Warcraft Senshi Slayers
by Shritistrang
Summary: When the Horde is attacking, Azeroth is in need for heroes! But are the members of the Alliance really willing to accept these heroes after finding out just where they really come from? Crossover with a few Anime series.
1. Lina and the Battle for Azeroth

The battle was over.

But Lina Inverse was still able to feel it as she was standing upon the hilltop. She could feel the enormous collision of the two biggest armies the kingdom of Azeroth had ever seen in its history. She could still hear the clashing of swords, the battlecries and the booming horns that the Orcish Horde was using to call their troops to battle. She was also still able to smell and taste the blood of dozens that had fallen just a few hours ago.

They had managed to repel the Orc army for now. But they hadn't won. They were far from it.

This was just the calm before the storm. When night fell, the two armies that had been wedged with each other like two ferocious beasts, stepped back so the warriors on both sides were able to rest for the second part of the battle... which would resume as soon as the sun was rising over the green hills of Azeroth.

Lina Inverse, travelling adventurer and sorceress, wished she would stand somewhere else. She had never shown any interests for politics and under normal circumstances would have never volunteered to fight in the army.

But if the humans didn't fight back, the Orcs and their countless allies would destroy everything.

Besides, the ruler of Azeroth, Regent Anduin Lothar, was the father of one of her closest friends... and she would never let Amelia fight those monsters by herself. And their other friends and previous travel companions had agreed to fight alongside the army of Azeroth as well.

Gourry Gabriev stepped next to his red-haired friend and smiled down at her. When he saw that she didn't look at him, he followed her gaze to the Orc's camp that was situated on the other side of the deep valley, on top of a hill that looked like the twin of the one they were standing on right now.

Gourry chuckled. "If we had a good telescope right now, we'd be able to watch Doomhammer while he's having dinner, huh?"

"Save your stupid jokes, jellyfish-for-brains," Lina snapped. She was not in the mood for the blonde knight's playful behavior. There were times for that, and this was certainly not the right time.

She sighed. Deep within she knew that Gourry just wanted to cheer her up. But she would need much more than his jokes to cheer up in this situation.

"Dammit..." she cursed. "Everything would be so much easier if I could only use my Dragon Slave..."

"Excuse me, Sir Gabriev," a gruff voice suddenly spoke up behind them. "But Lord Lothar needs to see you in the command tent... and he also requested for... Lady Inverse's presence."

Lina looked at the Paladin who had given them the message. The way the followers of Alonsus Faol treated her made her more than upset. Everyone in the army camp knew what she and her friends were to them... mercenaries that couldn't be trusted. Well, except for Amelia of course... and Gourry.

"You can tell Anduin we'll be there in a minute," the sorceress said coldly while she watched in amusement as the Paladin gasped in shock. The way how she referred to the regent with his first name was an outrage... but not for Lina. After all, she knew Amelia's for years. Besides, she loved to see those stuck-up Paladins in such a state of revolt.

With a smile on her face, she turned around and marched to the command tent, followed by Gourry.

They came past the Knights of Light, the order that was under Gourry's command. Like every time she came near them, Lina had to wonder about the serenity and indifference the silver-plated warriors seemed to give off. She wondered what was going on behind those helmets that covered their faces like the emotionless masks they were.

"I wonder how you can get along with them," she frowned. "Seriously, those guys give me the creeps."

Gourry shrugged. "They know I am their commander, and they listen to me in battle. That's all there is to know."

Sceptically, Lina threw the knights another glance and entered the big tent in front of them with a shrug.

She realized that she and Gourry weren't the only ones that were present. The tent was the biggest within the Alliance camp, but it still was getting cramped with the many people in here.

Lina recognized Amelia standing next to her father, who gave her a shy smile. Zelgadis was standing next to the entrance, showing no hint of any emotion on his grey face. There were also a few other knights in the tent, the commanders of the various orders. She also recognized the leader of the Gryphon Squadron, Kurdran Wildhammer.

Lord Anduin Lothar gave them a nod as they entered. "Sir Gabriev, Lady Inverse... I'm glad you could come."

Lina noticed the formal way Lothar was using to address her. If they were just by themselves, he would call them by their first names. But she realized how serious the situation they were in was.

"It's not that we had anything better to do," Lina said with a sigh, showing every single person in the tent how much she cared about those meetings. In battle, she would concentrate on hitting the Orcs with her strongest spells, no matter what kind of strategy Lothar and his commanding knights came up with.

She noticed the frowns the knights, and even Amelia, were giving her, but she decided to ignore them.

"Well, then let us begin," Lothar said after clearing his throat. "Kurdran is back from his scouting flight and I am afraid he brings bad news. He and his scouts have discovered more Orc warriors that are on their way here."

"Is that true?" Lina gasped in surprise, a question for which most of the present knight would have gladly put her in prison. No one questioned the words of the regent.

"I'm afraid so," Lothar nodded. Four additional units, coming from the west. They will be here an hour before sunrise... if not earlier."

"Four units..." Gourry murmured. That made things even more hopeless than before. One Orc unit normally consisted of at least five hundred warriors.

"And that is not all," Kurdran added. "One of my scouts reports that the Horde managed to reopen the Dark Portal. If they succeed, we are doomed."

"You have to be kidding me," Lina gasped. "Your scouts saw and didn't hinder them?"

"Of course they did!" Kurdran flared up. "They tried. The patrol consisted of five Gryphon Riders, but they never stood a chance. Doomhammer's Ogre-Mages are protected by a strong group of warriors, and they had at least three dragons with them. Four of the five brave dwarven warriors died before the last on decided it would be more important to bring us the bad news than to die a hero's death."

"Of... of course..." Lina muttered. "I... I didn't want to question your people's abilities... I was just appalled..."

"Lina Inverse, the Bandit Killer, Dragon Spooker and Enemy of All Who Live, appalled?" Zelgadis snickered. "Now I know we are doomed."

Zelgadis was right, Lina was uncharacteristically shocked and horrified by the bad news. She was easily able to deal with dozens, even hundreds of Orcs, but with that many... And if they managed to open the Black Portal...

She shook her head. "But how is that possible? I thought your Mages assured us they would at least need months before they were able to reactivate the portal."

"Well, they must have made a mistake," Lothar said with an angry sideglance at Lord Khadgar, the delegate of the Kirin Tor, the ruling body of the mages of Dalaran.

"Sure they will, Daddy," Amelia sighed. "But if I may make a suggestion: I think it would be better if you wait until the war is over before you behead all of your mages."

Lothar had to shake his head upon hearing his daughter's black humor.

"But I understand your worries, Lady Inverse," Khadgar spoke up. "If the Orcs manage to open the gate in such a short time, who knows what else they might be able to do..."

"But the portal is not open yet," Zelgadis added.

"How d'you know?" Lina asked her chimera friend in surprise.

"Because we would know, Miss Lina," Amelia said with a sigh. "Believe me, every magic user in Azeroth would have felt it when such a powerful spell like the Orcs are using to open the portal was being used."

"And I know the rituals that are necessary to do it," Khadgar added. "Even the most powerful Ogre Magi, Death Knights and Orcish Wizards will need the whole night to finish their job.

"Then there's still time," Gourry said with a grim face and reached for the handle of his sword... the Sword of Light.

"Time for what?" Lothar asked with raised eyebrows.

Lina and Gourry looked at each other blankly for a short while, then Lina turned to face Lord Lothar and said: "To stop them, Your Lordship!"

She didn't add the sentence 'What else, you idiot?', but it was still obvious that she intended to add it.

"Stop them?" Amelia gasped. "But... but you heard what Kurdran said. His warriors were killed before they could even get CLOSE to the portal. There are DRAGONS there!"

"I know, Amelia, but there were only five scouts, and they didn't know what was waiting for them. If we wait until the Ogre Magi have opened the portal, we are done for. But if we go now and attack them, we might have still a chance."

"Are you out of your mind?" Khadgar shouted. "The Black Portal is on the other side of the valley. Do you honestly believe Orgrim Doomhammer will allow you to go that far? Maybe they have thousands of warriors over there, and maybe even hundreds of dragons."

Lina was very confused by now. If they didn't plan to attack the portal, why did Lothar call for them? Something was going on...

"I called for all of you to inform you about my decision," Lothar finally spoke up. "I have sent a messenger to Doomhammer's camp."

"A... messenger?" Lina asked in confusion. "What for?"

"For peace negotiations," Lothar said. "I expect him to return in an hour and I believe Doomhammer might accept my offer. If he does, we will meet this night to negotiate the capitulation terms."

Lina didn't answer right away. She always knew Amelia's father wasn't the brightest man on Azeroth. A brave and respected warrior, yes, but not exactly the brightest man.

But she never believed him to be a complete idiot!

"Peace negotiations?" she murmured. "With ORCS?"

"I know how that must sound, and many of the people in Azeroth will think the same way... but please, try to understand! If the Orcs manage to open the Black Portal, they can practically call for an UNLIMITED amount of backup from their homelands. We might face a hundred thousand of warriors by tomorrow."

"Even more a reason why we have to destroy the portal," Lina spoke up.

"It's too dangerous," Lothar claimed. "If we do that, we won't be able to expect any form of mercy from Doomhammer."

"You won't be able to expect that right now," Lina tried again.

"She is right, Your Lordship!" Gourry interfered. "If you don't believe her, please believe me. The Orcs..."

"Will read my message tonight," Lothar said with a firm voice. "I will meet with Doomhammer tonight and submit my offer to him."

"And what is that offer supposed to be like?" Lina snapped. "Will the Orcs renounce from killing all of your subjects if they promise to commit suicide by sunrise?"

The assembled knights gasped, along with Amelia and Khadgar.

"Be careful what you say, Inverse!" Kurdran grumbled. "You are talking to the regent!"

"Well, not for long..." Lina grumbled. "In the morning, he'll be the regent of the dead if he's not careful..." She already turned around to leave the tent.

"Please try to understand our situation, Lina," Lothar suddenly said in a soft voice. "I can't take any risks, you know that, do you?"

"That's what I mean," Gourry said almost pleadingly. "Think about the helpless farmers and their wives and children! Think about all those warriors who have given their lives in battle. Are their sacrifices supposed to be in vain?"

"That is just the reason why I want to talk with Doomhammer," Lothar replied. "I know he won't accept that easily. Maybe he'll even demand my own life. But if that is what it takes... I shall gladly offer it!"

Amelia was not the only one to gasp at these words. With teary eyes, she looked up at her father.

"Then you leave me no choice," Lina said firmly. "I will leave the camp within an hour."

"I thought you'd say that," Lothar nodded. "I'm sorry it had to end like this. But maybe we are in luck... and we might see each other again, some day."

'I highly doubt that...' Lina thought to herself as she left the command tent.

But she didn't say it out aloud.

----

Gourry walked up to Lina and put his hand on her shoulder as she walked away from the command tent. "Hey, do you really want to...?"

"Gourry, please! Can't you just leave me alone for now?" Lina said in an annoyed tone of voice.

The swordsman blinked. He didn't like how things were going. He really didn't like it. He would never want to abandon Amelia and her father, and he really thought hard if there was another possibility to save Azeroth.

But thinking had never been one of his biggest strength, so he had hoped Lina would have some idea. But he recognized her bad temper when he saw it, and he knew that right now, Lina would not want to speak to him if she didn't want to.

He sighed. "So this is it, huh? Well, I'll... I'll just go and tell my knights, then..."

"You do that..." Lina sighed.

Shortly after, she was sitting in her own, dark tent. She had planned to just grab all her stuff and ran away, but still, something held her back. She wondered if Gourry and Zelgadis would stay behind, even if they both knew that peace with Orcs was... unthinkable.

Okay, Gourry had always been a bit gullible and at times, even more optimistic than Amelia. And who ever knew what Zel was thinking...

Lina wasn't afraid... she had no reason to... but she actually felt pity for the people of Azeroth. And when she thought about what might happen to Amelia...

No! She couldn't think of it.

But what else was there to do? Lothar seemed to have made up his mind. She pondered if she should just go back to the beginning and start anew, but she very quickly abandoned that idea. There were many things you could do, but never SHOULD do, and this was certainly such a thing. She would just have to accept that this story would have an ending she never wished it would have.

But there had to be some solution out of this misery. For some time, she almost toyed with the idea to go over to Lothar's tent and pound some sense into him.

If she at least would be at her full power, then she would be able to prevent the worst. But ever since her encounter with that Orcish wizard, her powers were visibly weakened, and on top of that, her most formidable spell, the Dragon Slave, was sealed. If she only knew how that bastard had accomplished that...

After some time, Lina sighed. If she wanted to go, she had to do it now. No sense to stay for much longer...

Just when she pondered if she should maybe say at least goodbye to Amelia, she bumped against someone who was standing in front of her tent. Someone who was barely reaching up to her chest.

"Kurdran?" she asked in surprise. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you, Miss Lina," the dwarf said in his gruff voice. "But keep your voice down. No one should know that I'm here."

Lina was way too surprised than to reply with anything else but a bewildered "What?".

Kurdran pushed her back inside and took another look outside until he looked up at her firmly. "Please tell me one thing, Miss Lina: You are right about the Orcs, correct?"

"What are you talking about?" Lina asked. It made no sense to her.

"When you said the Orcs won't cooperate," Kurdran said. "You were right, correct? They won't listen to the regent's pleas, right?"

"Right," Lina nodded sadly. "I was forced to live in captivity after meeting that warlock, Gul'dan. I could see the brutality of his men. They don't even seem to know the meaning of mercy."

Kurdran sighed deeply. "Then we just might have to do it."

"Do WHAT?" Lina asked.

"We have to defeat them," the dwarf nodded. "Them or us, that's how I see it."

"You mean you want to ignore Lothar's order and act on your own?" Lina asked.

"I think we don't have any other choice," Kurdran said grimly. "Besides, the messenger he sent to the Orcs came back."

"Already?" Lina wondered.

"His horse didn't have to carry as much," Kurdran sighed. "They sent back only his head."

"Amazing!" Lina said with a dark frown. "I figured that would be the part they'd eat first. Lemme guess: Lothar has already sent another messenger?"

"That he did," Kurdran nodded. "But by now, pretty much everyone knows that he will share the same fate. Poor guy was shaking so much, he almost couldn't mount his horse."

He moved a bit in the darkness, but Lina could hear the clanging of his armor clearly. Dwarves really couldn't make a single step without making some noise, and Kurdran was no exception. No wonder they had to learn how to fly, Lina thought to herself.

"You might have an idea why I'm here," Kurdran continued. "We want to attack the portal and try to destroy it. Are you with us?"

"We?" Lina wondered.

The dwarf nodded. "Thirty of my bravest warriors, in addition to Sir Gabriev and thirty of his brave knights. And I think a few knights from other orders would like to come along as well. Princess Amelia and a few of Khadgar's mages were willing to come along as well."

"Amelia as well?" Lina wondered. She then grinned. "Seems like I'm not the only one who isn't satisfied with the regent's decisions."

"Be careful what you're saying," Kurdran grumbled angrily. "He is still the regent, and we dwarves are loyal to him to the death."

"And you still disobey his orders?" Lina asked.

"If I have to, to save his kingdom and all of us, yes, I do. So what now? Are you willing to help us?"

"Of course I do!" the sorceress grinned. "Do you think I want to let you have all the fun by yourselves? Count me in!"

Kurdran smiled. "Good. We will go by air. We have thirty gryphons ready, and each of them can carry three riders at once. But to fight properly, we will have to drop you and the knights to the ground. The mages will also create a field of invisibility that will fade out as soon as we'll touch the ground."

"Well, at least we can take the Orcs by surprise. When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible," Kurdran replied in a worried tone. "Khadgar has felt a magical surge coming from where the portal is standing. He believes it might be shortly before its completion. We have to hurry."

"Okay, let's go!" Lina nodded.

They sneakily left the tent, and Lina followed the dwarf to where his air troops were waiting. She had no trouble following him. She almost believed the clanging of the metal on his body should be heard in Doomhammer's camp on the other hill.

Her tummy grumbled. "I should have eaten something before we left..." she whined.

But she also was quite agitated. A regent who believed to make peace with the Orcs and now a loyal dwarf who was ready to disobey his orders so he could save the regent... She wondered what else would be happening.

They walked through a small grove. On its other side, Gourry and his knights were waiting. Lina smiled when she saw her friend, and he waved to her while giving orders to his men.

But then she stopped as she saw the gigantic gryphon Kurdran was approaching. She had never seen one of these majestic animals that was this big. And to be honest... she had never been this close to a gryphon before. And to think that thirty of these colossal beasts was about to fly into battle, she somehow doubted that anything could stop them.

She forced herself to think realistic. She knew that the Orcs were forcing the dragons to fight on their side, and it was not that long ago when she had witnessed how three of the scaled, winged creatures had attacked one gryphon and tore him apart.

Kurdran skillfully climbed up upon the gryphon's back. To Lina's surprise, someone else was already sitting up there.

"Amelia!" she gasped. "You?"

"Didn't Kurdran tell you I was coming along, Miss Lina?" the princess of Azeroth asked in her impish voice.

"Well, he did, but... I would have neve imagined YOU to sit on a gryphon's back, Amelia... And you have never been in the middle of such a big fight before."

"Well, then it's about time," Amelia replied. "I'm not gonna wait and see if Doomhammer accepts my father's offer while we could easily destroy that portal. Onwards to victory!"

Lina had to snicker. Of course Amelia would look at the whole thing as optimistically as she always did. But she still was worried about her.

"If you are finished with your small talk, can we finally leave?" Kurdran muttered, while his gryphon let out an affirmative cry.

"In a minute," Amelia said. "I just want to wait until our final guest is ready." And she leaned forward in her saddle and shouted out into the darkness: "You can come out now, Zelgadis!"

'Zelgadis?' Lina wondered. 'Here?' He was the last person she would have expected to be here.

But Amelia was right, as the chimera came walking out of the forest in front of them.

"Well, well, if it isn't Lina..." he said with a frown. "And the traitorous dwarf... I would have never believed you to have the guts to defy your regent. And you too, Amelia? Your father won't be amused..."

He ignored how Kurdran leaned over his mount's head and asked in a dangerous voice: "Did you say 'traitorous dwarf', Mr. Greywords?"

Zelgadis threw him an annoyed glance. "That I did," he stated, and Lina started to worry if her friend was maybe a bit crazy. THat thick skin of his wouldn't protect him much against the sharp claws of the gryphon Sky'Ree... it would only make the difference between food and canned food.

"Or how would you call it if you organize an assault on the portal against Lothar's wishes?" Zelgadis asked. Again, Lina wondered since when Zel cared about what others did.

"No one here is a traitor, Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia said. "But if we don't do anything, the Orcs will win. Miss Lina is right, any negotiations with them will be futile. I think my father is the only man in Azeroth who doesn't know that."

"He knows," Kurdran said sadly and shook his head. "But he doesn't want to realize it."

Zelgadis stayed silent for a while.

"But what if you fail?" he finally asked. "Without the knights you are ready to sacrifice in this battle, we will stand no chance in the upcoming battle tomorrow."

"We wouldn't stand a chance with them, Zel," Lina replied. "It's the DARK PORTAL, don't you see? Doomhammer will be able to call for hundreds of new warriors. That's why the final battle will be at the portal, not in the valley between the hills."

"So, you really are determined to do it?" Zelgadis asked. "You would even risk exile, in case Lothar wouldn't forgive you for ignoring his orders?"

"That is something all of us have to put up with," Lina said with determination. "C'mon, Zel, you want to be part of the action as well, do you?"

"Why are we wasting time with that fool?" Kurdran grumbled. "Why don't you just go to Lothar and tell him about what we are going to do, Greywords, then he can already prepare our pyre."

"That would be too complicated," Zelgadis grinned. "I doubt they would find firewood as small as you. Well... do you have enough space up there for another man?"

"What?" Kurdran asked in surprise.

"You heard me. Do you believe I want to leave Amelia and Lina in the care of a dwarf? If you are right, you need every man. And if not... well, dead is dead, right? It wouldn't matter if I die a few hours earlier, right?"

Grumbling, Kurdran moved so Zelgadis and Lina could climb up as well. For a while, Lina was worried if Sky'Ree would be able to carry them all at once, but then again, she and Amelia didn't weigh that much, and he was the most powerful gryphon in the army.

"Are you all ready?" Kurdran asked. He looked over to the other Gryphons, and saw that everyone was sitting in the saddle.

"Princess Amelia, the mages can start their spell."

Amelia nodded, and together with the two members of the Kirin Tor that were accompanying them, she chanted the Invisibility spell.

A flash of blue light surrounded them, and then all of the gryphons, dwarves and knights seemed to turn transparent. But the Orcs wouldn't be able to see anything before they landed.

"Okay, let's fly!" Kurdran commanded, and the thirty winged beasts flapped their wings and took off from the ground.


	2. Illusion or Reality?

A short flight later, they were approaching the portal, which was positioned in the middle of a deep trench, an impressive monument made of dark marble, with a black vortex of magical energy within.

And all around it, the troops of the Horde were waiting.

"Looks like there are more Orcs than your scouts have reported," Lina said to Kurdran.

"You're right," the dwarf called back. "It seems to me like there are at least two hundred Orc warriors down there, with a sizeable amount of Troll Berserkers and Ogres alongside them."

"We still have no choice but to attack now. If we don't do it, who knows how many more warriors will have appeared by then."

Kurdran nodded and gave his troops the sign to attack.

"For Khaz Modan! For Azeroth! For victory! ATTACK!"

The thirty gryphons swooped down onto the unsuspecting Orc troops. Lina just felt a massive crash when Sky'Ree landed on the rocky ground, and at the same time, a blue shimmer was surrounding them. It was just as Amelia had said: The mages' spell which had turned them invisible has worn off.

But Lina had no time to think about that right now. The force of the gryphon's impact almost made her fall, but she skillfully kept her balance and jumped to the ground. She could see how next to her, Zelgadis was also jumping out of the saddle, just like Gourry and the knights that had arrived with the other gryphons.

Only Amelia slipped and fell down headfirst. Lina sweatdropped. "Figures..." she muttered and jumped next to her friend.

Sky'Ree had just time to start again, when the first Orcs attacked. They were certainly not prepared for the sudden appearance of the Alliance's troops right in their middle, but Lina had to admit that they weren't caught by surprise as much as she had anticipated.

She drew her sword to parry the blow of an Orc Grunt's massive axe, while she kicked another one in the stomach. Her blade left a shimmering trail as she spun around and attacked the surrounding Horde troops.

"FIREBALL!" After she shouted the name of her spell, a fiery ball of destruction shot out of her hand's palm and left a path of destruction among the Orcs and Trolls. For a short instance, she was able to help Amelia to her feet.

"Are you all right?" she asked her younger friend. The princess of Azeroth nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine..." she muttered. "Quick, we have to find their warlocks..."

A shrill scream made them gasp in surprise. They looked up and saw that the gryphons were once again in the air to assist the ground troops from above. But all of a sudden, a glimmering, floating net of flaring energy had appeared above them in the air. Whenever a gryphon wing touched that net, bright sparks bursted forth and scorched the majestic creatures' feathers. The dwarves had trouble to keep their mounts under control.

And then the first dragons appeared above the magical net.

A loud roar echoed over the battlefield as one of the dragons opened his mouth and spat a plume of flame down at the trapped gryphons. And now Lina could see: While the gryphons and their riders were trapped underneath that net, the dragons were able to move freely.

"It's a trap..." Amelia gasped. "L-look, Miss Lina... the portal... IT IS ALREADY OPEN!"

Lina looked over to the enormous construction and saw that Amelia was right: The dark energies in its middle had turned into a twirling gateway through which a seemingly endless number of Orcs and Ogres was coming.

"This is it..." Amelia whimpered. "We're all gonna die out here..."

"Get a hold of yourself, Amelia!" Lina shouted and stabbed her sword through the chest of a hulking Ogre. "As long as we're still standing, we can win. We just have to kill the Ogre Magi, and the portal will close again. C'mon, let's go!"

She was acting much more confident than she felt right now. After some time, she saw how the first gryphon plummeted down from the sky, killed by a dragon's sharp claws.

Over the loud shouts and cries of the fighting humans, Orcs and Trolls, she was able to hear Gourry's command: "Come to me! All knights, assemble!"

Lina decided to follow Gourry's order as well. Even if he was slightly dimwitted and scatterbrained at times, the war managed to turn him into a skilled commander.

"Looks like Lothar was right after all," Zelgadis muttered after they met in the middle of the battle.

"This was a trap," Gourry realized. "I wonder how they knew that we were coming..."

"Stop thinking or you'll hurt your head!" Lina grumbled. But she was actually asking herself the very same question.

"Do you... do you think there might be a traitor among us?" Amelia murmured.

"Let's not start with that," Lina shouted. "If we can't trust each other anymore, the Horde has already won."

Gourry struck down two Orcs at once with his blade and looked over to a circle of dark figures that was standing near the portal, with raised arms.

"Lina, are those...?"

"Yes, this must be them," the young sorceress nodded. "The Ogre Magi!"

"I can feel their power..." Zelgadis grumbled. "Gourry, we have to attack them, it's now or never!"

Gourry raised his sword and pointed at the circle of two-headed creatures. "The Ogres, over there!"

His men understood right away and started to clear a path for their commander and his companions. With cries of "Fireball!", "Freeze Arrow!" and "Mono Volt!", Lina and Zelgadis were helping as much as they could.

While they were approaching the portal, Lina realized that the dark swirl in its middle had grown smaller, and the current of appearing monsters had decreased visibly. Obviously, the Ogre Magi couldn't keep the portal open for a longer time span.

And if luck was on their side, it would even cost them much of their power to keep the spell stable.

The closer they got, the more chaotic the battlefield became, and Lina lost her friend more than once while she had to fight Orcs, Trolls, Ogres and Goblins.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the dragons started to intervene with the battle on the ground. The dwarven Gryphon Riders tried to intercept them by throwing their lightning hammers, but every once in a while, one of the winged reptiles blew his fire breath down at the fighting troops, scorching Orcs and humans alike, or managed to grab a hapless knight, pull him up into the air and tear him apart.

Finally, they arrived at the base of the portal.

By now, only a few troops were coming out of the swirling vortex, and the Magi's movements were becoming more and more hasty.

A few knights tried to attack the magic-using Ogres right away, but they unfortunately stepped right into a trap of magical runes the Magi had put around them, which exploded under the feet of the armored protectors of Azeroth.

Then Lina reached the Magi and threw a powerful fireball at them. A few of them managed to shield themselves with protective auras, but at least three of them died with horrible screams.

Lina was almost ready to cheer when she heard a yell of terror behind her. She turned around... and saw how Amelia fell down to the ground, her clothes red with blood which was flowing from a nasty wound... a wound that was caused by a Troll's throwing axe.

Lina screamed in anguish and ran away from the Ogre Magi, towards the place where Amelia had collapsed. She could see how one of the repulsive Forest Trolls was leaning over her twitching body, his long tusks were emphasizing his horrible grin as he leaned down to pull his weapon out of Amelia's body.

But before he was able to react though, Lina reached him and beheaded him with one strike. She knelt down next to her friend, while some knights were forming a protective ring around them.

"Amelia!" she shouted and hugged her friend's bloody form. "Amelia, hang on... you won't die!"

The princess of Azeroth coughed up some blood, before looking at her friend with sad eyes. "Miss Lina..." she murmured. "Please... don't let them... don't let them destroy my country..."

She uttered a short gasp, and then her eyelids were slowly closing.

"Amelia?" Lina gasped. "AMELIAAAA!!!"

----

Lina could see how her friend's vitality was dying away slowly. And there was nothing she could do.

Amelia, her cheerful, spunky friend, who had always stood up for friendship and justice, was dying in her arms.

A resolute expression appeared on Lina's face. No! Not if she had anything to say about it!

Deep within her, she knew that what she was about to do was wrong. The damage she might cause might not only harm her and her friends, but maybe even all of Azeroth. But she just couldn't let Amelia die.

She put her hand on the mortal wound on her friend's chest and called out a simple phrase:

"VITAMIN B!!"

A soft glow surrounded the princess of Azeroth, and within seconds, the blood vanished from her body. Lina could watch how the wound was closing. and shortly after that, Amelia started breathing again.

Amelia opened her eyes. "M-Miss Lina... Wha... what the...?" She stared down at her chest in disbelief and then at her friend.

"What... What have you DONE??"

Lina didn't reply. She stood up from the ground and looked over to the Dark Portal. The forces of the Alliance were swiftly losing the battle. She noticed how the last of the knights that had formed a protective ring around her and Amelia fell under the axe blow of an Orc.

Lina quickly killed the Orc with her blade and gestured over to where the last few knights were fighting alongside Zelgadis and Gourry. She pointed at them with her right index finger and shouted:

"IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!!"

For a short instance, a strange... TWITCH was going through reality. The bodies of the fighting men were engulfed in the same strange light that had appeared during Amelia's miraculous recovery, and for a while, they staggered around dizzily.

The Orcs and Trolls decided to use that apparent moment of vulnerability and attacked the humans with all their might.

Every single one of their axes and curved blades hit their targets... but they harmlessly bounced off the humans' bodies. One of the knights cried out and slashed at one of the Orcs... and the green-skinned warrior fell down as if he was struck by lightning.

The CHEAT had turned them invincible and at the same time, raised their attack power immensely.

Lina ignored Amelia's frightened shiver and pointed at her with her sword, while at the same time, her left finger pointed at the Gryphon Riders, which were still trapped underneath the magical net.

"IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!" she once again shouted, and the miracle recurred: The bodies of Amelia, the gryphons and the dwarves got surrounded by a shining aura, and then Sky'Ree let out a shrill scream as he flew upwards... and the second his wings were touching the magical net, it completely disappeared.

The dragons attacked the gryphons and their riders savagely, but not even their hot fire breath was able to harm them now. The winged mounts of the dwarves were taking a bloody revenge for the death of their fallen comrades.

"Lina, what... what just happened?" Amelia muttered again. She was afraid. That power her friend had just shown... it almost seemed... unearthly.

"Come, follow me!" Lina said and gestured at the portal. "It's not over yet!"

The red-haired sorceress plowed through the Horde troops like a berserker, until she met with her friends in front of the portal.

Gul'dan was nowhere to see, although Lina had hoped she could finally pay him back for what he had done to her. But now she had other problems to worry about.

The Ogre Magi had already detected them and threw an amount of runes on the ground in front of them. Gourry gave off a loud battle cry and ran right through the magical land mines. Whenever he stepped on a rune, it erupted in an enormous, magical explosion, but his body stayed unharmed. Zelgadis and Lina were right behind him, and when their blades struck the Ogres, their massive bodies fell down on the spot.

Still, Lina had forgotten one little detail: She hadn't used the Cheat on herself, so she wasn't invulnerable against the powerful punch one of the Ogres suddenly threw at her. The force of the blow threw her backwards, and all of a sudden, she found herself near the portal.

Gourry avenged her by slicing through the Ogre as if he was a piece of butter, but that didn't help Lina right now, as the strong suction of the dark maelstrom within the portal pulled her closer and closer.

And just as she thought she couldn't make it, Zelgadis appeared in front of her. He reached out for her, and Lina grabbed his hand, so he could pull her to safety.

When they were out of the portal's reach, they fell down on the ground and panted heavily.

Zelgadis grinned. "Looks I saved your precious ass this time!"

Lina blinked in confusion. Since when did Zel talk in such a manner?

She shrugged and stood up. As she took a good look around, she noticed that the battle was over. Up in the air, Kurdran just defeated the last dragon by throwing his hammer at it.

After the Magi's death, all of the remaining Orcs had decided to skedaddle. The Alliance had won this battle.

But for what a price... Of all the Alliance's warriors, only four knights, two Gryphon Riders and Lina and her friends had survived.

"Just... just tell me one thing," Zelgadis said and looked at Lina firmly. "What did you just do?"

Lina looked at him sadly. The feeling of triumph she was supposed to feel wasn't coming.

"Something I should have never done, Zel..." she said in a quiet voice.

A short while later, they met next to the Dark Portal, just far enough so the suction of evil couldn't reach them.

"It... it is over," Amelia said in a small voice.

"Is it?" Lina said. She was feeling tired. She didn't even look at her friends. She was crouching on the grass and just looked down at the ground.

Gourry nodded. "Yes, we have won. The Orcs have fled and my father's mages will be able to destroy the portal as soon as they get here. We... we couldn't have done it without your help..."

Lina sighed. What was she supposed to do with such a win? It wasn't worth anything. For just a little moment, she lost her self-control... and all was over. Months of preparation, and it was all in vain...

"May... may I ask you something, Miss Lina?" Amelia asked carefully.

Lina nodded. "Sure! But call me 'Miss' again and I'll kick you!"

Amelia winced. "S-sure, Lina... as you wish. Um, it... it's kinda hard for me to ask this, but... it is something that all of us have been wondering, after today's battle."

"And what might that be?" Lina asked. She had a bad feeling about this.

Amelia took a deep breath and asked: "Are you a goddess?"

The question hit Lina like a blow. "What... whatever made you think THAT?" she murmured.

"Because only a god or goddess is able to do the things you have just done," Kurdran said in a firm voice.

"I can assure you, I am neither," Lina sighed. "I am just... an adventurer who's able to do a few tricks..."

"But... what you did CAN only be the result of divine intervention," Gourry insisted. "Today's victory was a miracle, Lina... we were practically doomed. Until you pulled your so-called 'trick'."

"So it might seem to you," Lina said while shaking her head. "But where I'm from... anyone can do these things..."

"Where you are from?" Zelgadis came closer. His eyes narrowed. "Where is that? You never told us."

"And I won't do it now, so don't bother, my friend."

"I am not... your FRIEND!" Zelgadis spat and turned around angrily. Lina winced under his words.

"Why are you like this, Zel?" she asked and stood up. "I mean, we have been friends for months, right? Without my help, you would have died tonight."

"And the lives of how many people could you have saved?" the chimera grumbled under his breath. "If you had the power?"

"What... what are you saying?" Lina muttered and took a step backwards.

"You know very well what I mean!" Zelgadis shouted. "You're playing our hero! The savior! But our lives actually don't mean anything to you, am I not right? All of this is nothing but a big GAME to you, right?"

"Zelgadis!" Gourry shouted angrily. "Cut that out!"

"How many battles have you witnessed, Lina?" Zelgadis asked. "How many brave men and women have you seen dying? How many villages have you seen being ransacked and burnt down by Orcs and Trolls? How many mothers have cried for their sons and husbands while YOU COULD HAVE PREVENTED ALL OF THAT WITH A SINGLE WORD?"

"But... but it's not like that..." Lina said weakly while staggering back.

'It's much worse...' she thought. 'Without me, none of this would have ever happened...'

"Now shut that mouth of yours, Greywords!" Gourry snarled and drew his blade. "One more word and I swear, I'll make sure you regret it!"

"Let... let him be, Gourry..." Lina murmured. "I... I can't blame him. Maybe he is right... he can't understand..."

Gourry lowered his blade in confusion. "Um... to be honest, Lina. neither can I. I mean, is he actually right? Could you have prevented it?"

Lina was reluctant to answer. But finally, she gave him a sad nod. "Yeah... maybe I could have. But I never should. I shouldn't have done what I did today either."

"What else can be worse than killing our wives and children?" Kurdran muttered with a frown.

"But you don't have family..." Lina muttered to herself. "Not really..."

"What are you talking about?" Amelia asked in confusion.

She carefully gestured over to the dark swirling of the portal. "Does it... does it have anything to do with that thing? And where it leads?"

Lina gave her the hint of a smile. "You're a smart girl, Amelia..." she said.

"Is that the place where you came from?" Amelia asked. "The place where everyone has the powers of a god?"

"Yes," Lina sighed. "Only that no one really is a god out there... some believe they are, but they actually are just idiots..."

"Another world..." Zelgadis whispered. Then he scowled and drew his blade. "The world you came from... And the Orcs and Ogres and all the other monsters!"

Lina let out a gasp when she realized just HOW big the mistake she made was. But it was too late.

Zelgadis screamed like a madman, jumped at Lina and rammed against her body, which sent her flying. Lina tried grabbing on to something, but the pull of the dark vortex behind her was too powerful. Amelia and Gourry came running to help her, but before they could reach their friend, she got pulled backwards and fell into the undulant darkness behind the portal...

With an loud scream, Minako Aino pulled the head-mounted display from her head. Angrily, she gave the desk she had been sitting in front of for the last few hours a kick, which almost made the computer and monitor that were standing on it bounce.

"OH THAT GODDAMN BASTARD!" she shouted while jumping out of her chair and hammering on the wooden surface of the desk. "THAT WRETCHED, SNEAKY, BACKSTABBING SON OF A BITCH! That... that..."

She couldn't find another word to express her anger at what Zelgadis had done to her high-leveled sorceress character. She gave the desk another kick, but that didn't really help, it only made her foot hurt.

Finally she picked up the helmet in which the head-mounted display was integrated and almost slammed it down to the ground in her anger, when suddenly, a voice behind her exclaimed:

"I believe the word you are looking for is 'treacherous scoundrel', isn't it? Oh, and before you damage the helmet, keep in mind that its value corresponds to an amount of Yen worth approximately twenty-four years of allowance."

Minako gulped, carefully put down the helmet and turned around with a nervous grin. "Hehehehehe... Hi, Daddy..."


	3. Raid on Shingonia

"Hey there, Daddy," Minako said sheepishly. "I... didn't know you and Mom were back already."

"We were able to leave a bit earlier," her father said with a frown. "And you couldn't hear us, of course."

"Um, I was just..." Minako thought frantically for a good excuse she could give her father. "...cheking my homework for Math."

"Oh, really?" her father said with a nod, his thoughtful expression never changing. "Let me guess, you had some problems and asked your friend 'Amelia' if she could help you."

Minako gulped. Amelia? Somehow this wasn't the first time she believed her father could read her thoughts.

But she understood right away when her father's gaze fell on the monitor which was standing next to her... and the big, flashing window with the bold letters 'GAME OVER'.

"I always told you to switch off the monitor when you're using the headgear," her father said.

"I guess I must... have forgotten," Minako said with a nervous chuckle. Just how much of the game had her father seen?

Her father took a thorough look at the sleek plastic cases in which he kept his floppy disks and CDs, all of them carefully locked with a key. Had he known that Minako was owning an identical key as well, it would be an understatement to say he would be shocked.

"What game is that?" her father asked with a nod towards the screen.

"It's... it's called 'Warcraft Maker'," Minako explained.

"Really?" her father asked with a raised eyebrow. "I figured it's name would be 'Gottakillemall' or something like that."

'Very funny...' Minako thought to herself.

"It's not like that," Minako tried to explain. "It's not just a game were you have to kill everyone. I mean, it can be used to create your own characters in the world of Warcraft, no matter what they look like, and you can create your own scenarios. I just used the already existing Warcraft world and combined it with characters from this Anime I like, 'Slayers'."

"It's called 'Slayers', but it's not about killing?" her father asked sceptically.

"Well, at least not just killing," Minako tried defending herself and her game. "I mean, you only have to fight when the Orcs arrive. And then you have to defend the human cities against them..."

"Just like I have to defend my computers against the likes of you," her father added grimly. He shook his head. "Oh, Minako, Minako... How often do I have to tell you that my computer is off limits for you? I work with it and all of it... the monitor, the head-mounted display... belongs to my company. All of it is worth a lot of money. And when something happens to the data on my hard drive..."

"I didn't even touch your data," Minako hastily said. "Honestly! I even set up my own partition..."

OUCH! That was the most stupid thing she could have said at this point. Not to say that she used her father's computer, but also that she had actively MANIPULATED it to a considerable degree...

"You did WHAT?" her father shouted and quickly sat down on his PC. His fingers flew over the keyboard and the mouse while his expression grew more and more grim until he asked: "Dear god, how big IS this game?"

"Very big," Minako admitted. It was actually the biggest and most extensive game she had ever seen. That was also the reason why she was playing it on her father's computer instead of her own. The game was running much, much better on the new, state-of-the-art computer her father's company had given him so he could do his work at home.

"I can see that," her father grumbled. He pointed at a file that was exceptionally big and asked: "Is that what I believe it to be?"

Minako nodded. That was the security file of her game, and if her father would take a look at it, he would have a look at everything her character Lina had done since the last time she had saved. So much for her claim that Warcraft wasn't a war game...

"I believe we should stop for now until you say anything else that might expose more of your... deeds. Now, about your homework... Did you finish it?"

"Um, almost..." Minako said sheepishly.

"That means you haven't even started," her father sighed. "Oh well, at least we can't say it will be a wasted evening for you. And during dinner, we'll have a talk about your questionable preferences regarding computer games... and about certain rules that parents set up to make sure that their daughters don't use anything that doesn't belong to them."

Minako nodded and walked out of the room. Thankfully, she was able to save her game not only on her father's computer, but on her own as well.

But that really had been close. If her father found out that his computer wasn't the only one she had used to play the game...

No! She didn't dare imagine what he would have done. Her father was a decent guy who could take a good joke... but he also could get pretty scary when he got angry.

Back in her room, she couldn't quite concentrate on her homework. Instead, her thoughts went back to what happened before Lina Inverse had been shoved through that portal.

She growled angrily when she recalled the moment when a certain golem-demon-chimera had attacked her without any warning.

'Oh no, that wasn't the last you heard of Lina Inverse, Zelgadis!' she silently swore to herself. 'I shall be back one day...'

Even if Zelgadis and Lina had been friends, she would make sure he would regret what he did!

----

All in all, the rest of the evening didn't turn out to be as bad as Minako had feared. Artemis helped her by 'convincing' her that doing her homework would actually be a good idea, and during dinner, her father held a little, compassionate speech about several things.

Minako only listened with one ear, and the only thing she managed to keep in mind before going to bed was that her father forbade her to ever go at his computer again.

The next morning, Minako didn't wake up to her alarm clock.

"If you ask me, it's because you have been sitting at that computer all day long, yesterday," Artemis scolded her while she hurried to get ready for school.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, furball!" Minako hissed. "Now turn around, pervert!" she added while putting on her bra.

For once, her mother agreed to take her to school today, as Minako wouldn't be able to catch the bus in time. But she should realize that there was another reason why her mother wanted to talk to her privately.

"So, what happened yesterday?" she asked her daughter while they were driving.

"Oh, nothing..." Minako muttered. "I just played a computer game..."

"I already noticed as much," her mother said with a frown.

"On HIS computer," Minako added with a sigh.

"But don't you have your own?" her mother asked.

Minako grimaced. "Oh, that old thing... it's just enough to play the games I own. But I'm telling you, in a few months, it's gonna be a piece for the museum. Daddy's computer is capable of much, much more than my own."

"And you need a good computer to play GAMES?" her mother wondered.

Minako rolled her eyes. Her mother really knew nothing about computers...

"Well, whatever the reason, please make sure not to upset your father like that again," her mother insisted. "He's already agitated enough as he is."

"Why?" Minako wanted to know. "Did something happen?"

"Oh, there was some trouble within his company," her mother shrugged. "He tried to explain it to me, but I couldn't quite understand him. I think one or two of the central computers have collided."

"Crashed," Minako corrected.

"Beg your pardon?"

"You mean the computers have CRASHED, not collided."

"Well, whatever. According to him, someone 'hacked' his way into the company's database and did quite some damage. That's why he's so nervous. So you better make sure he doesn't get too upset, all right?"

----

After school, Minako went to the Crown Game Center to meet with her friends.

When she arrived, Makoto and Usagi were already there.

"Hey there, girl!" Makoto waved. "What took you so long?"

"Sorry," Minako panted as she came to a stop. "But my stupid teacher decided to let me stay extra long today... Anyways, have you guys taken a look at the new game I told you about?"

"Oh, you mean this 'Warcraft Makers'?" Makoto asked. "Well, I don't have much time between learning for school and doing my housework, so I don't think I would be able to play it very often..."

"I already own it," Usagi said proudly. "My parents gave me one for my birthday two weeks ago. The only downside to that..."

She looked over to where two young boys were standing in front of an arcade game and hammering on the buttons. One of them looked pretty familiar to Minako.

"I have to share it with Shingo," Usagi grumbled. "And that boy plays it the whole time, so I never get a chance to try it out myself."

"Hey, where are Ami and Rei?" Minako asked as she looked around the game center.

"They excused themselves," Makoto explained. "Rei has to help her grandfather at the shrine, and Ami..."

"Lemme guess," Minako interrupted her pony-tailed friend. "She's at home, buried under a pile of books, am I right?"

"You're right," Makoto nodded with a sigh. "She is studying..."

"Really, that girl needs to take her nose out of those books for once," Minako huffed.

"Says the right person," Usagi grinned. "Is it not true that you spend all your free time with playing computer and video games?"

"Not true," Minako defended herself. "I also play volleyball..."

"Hey sis!" Shingo said as he suddenly appeared next to his big sister. "Throw me some money, will ya? We're outta coins."

"Well, too bad! I'm out of money as well. Mom told you not to waste it, right?"

"And what about that money in your right pocket?" Shingo grinned as he slipped his hand right into Usagi's pocket and pulled out a few coins.

"What? How did you...? You little tyke! How did you know that?"

Shingo grinned. "Shingo of Shingonia knows about everything that happens within his kingdom." He stuck out his tongue and ran back to his friend, with the coins he snatched from his sister.

"That little brat!" Usagi grumbled. "Why did Mom have to order me to watch him today? I really have better things to do..."

"What did he just say?" Makoto wondered. "Shingonia?"

"Yeah, that's the name he's giving the kingdom he created with the game's Map Maker," Usagi sighed. "And he's supposed its king or something like that. I swear, he now just talks about that game. I'm telling you, it's driving me MAD!"

"Are you sure it's not just the fact that he didn't let you play it yet?" Makoto asked with amusement.

"Ha ha, very funny, Mako-chan!" Usagi grumbled.

The three of them were spending the rest of the afternoon at the game arcade, talking about school and their hobbies, every now and then trying one of the games, and they even managed to speak with Motoki for a short time.

"Hey, meatball head, it's time to go!" Shingo said impatiently. His friend had left some time ago, and he was getting bored. He had no money left, and he really didn't want to his sister and her friends' endless prattle.

"Now wait just a minute there, Shingo!" Usagi snapped. "We're just about done!"

"So, what d'you say about that cute new guy at the bookshop?" Minako asked.

"Hmmmmm..." Makoto said dreamily. "He just looks like my old sempai..."

"Now why doesn't that surprise me?" Usagi said. She and Minako giggled. "But if you like him so much, Mina-chan, why don't you ask him out for lunch?"

Upon hearing that, Shingo had to snort.

"Hey, what's so funny, brat?" Minako snapped angrily.

"Oh nothing," Shingo chuckled. "I mean, it's just that I can't imagine you with a boyfriend, Minako. I mean, is there actually a guy who is willing to spend half of his life in front of your computer?"

"You're one to talk!" Usagi intervened. "Thanks to you, I can't even try out the new game Mom and Dad gave us as a present."

Shingo shrugged. "Maybe, but I still think that her own computer is the next best thing Minako can have close to a boyfriend."

Minako fumed. How dared that little brat? Why, if he was her own brother... she would pull him over her lap and give him a firm spanking.

"Well, I really have to go now or else I'll miss the bus home," Makoto said as she turned to leave. "It has been fun, girls! See you tomorrow!"

"Bye, Mako-chan!" Usagi waved before turning back to Minako. "Well, as I was saying..."

"Usagi! Shingo!" a loud voice suddenly came from the entrance. "I thought I told you two to get home by six."

"Oh shit, that's my Mom," Usagi hissed. "Sorry, Minako, I gotta run."

"See, what did I tell ya?" Shingo grumbled as they ran to their mother. "But nooo, you had to stay and chitchat with your friends..."

"One more word and it's gonna be your last one, tyke!" Usagi hissed before they both left the arcade.

Minako was still angry at Shingo. She didn't know how Usagi was able to put up with a brother like himself. She always knew he was a little pest, but what he did today was the last straw.

Then she got an idea and grinned evilly. "Just you wait, 'Shingo of Shingonia'... Let's see how smug you are after I am finished with your precious kingdom..."

And with a diabolical plan on her mind, she went back home.

----

Right after Minako came back home, she found a note lying on the dinner table. It was from her parents:

'Dear Minako, we're over at your aunt's place. We'll be coming late, so please don't cause any trouble. Dinner's in the fridge.'

Minako giggled. "Just what I needed! The perfect chance to invade a kingdom!"

"Are you thinking about playing that game again?" Artemis sweatdropped as he entered the room. "Don't you have anything better to do? Like, your homework, for once..."

"Hush, you spoilsport!" Minako growled. "I have a date with a brat."

Artemis shook his head. "I don't even want to ask..."

Back in her room, Minako excitedly booted up her computer and started the game. This was a good chance to pay Shingo back for what he said. With the 'Warcraft Maker', she was able to create a scenario about a country called 'Shingonia'.

That was what Shingo called his own virtual kingdom, back at his own computer... and she wouldn't really be able to affect something he created on his own PC. But still, she knew she would feel exceptionally satisfied after tonight's game...

She started her Map Editor and with a few mouse clicks, she created an additional, small kingdom at the Eastern side of Azeroth. She placed a town in it's middle, which she named 'Shingonia'. She gave the kingdom everything it needed to prosper, including a few farms and an iron mine. Finally, she put a skilled troop of guards at Shingo's side, so he had someone who protected his small kingdom.

When she was done with everything, she looked at her handiwork and chuckled. "Now for the main event... this is gonna be fun!"

"Whatever..." Artemis yawned and curled up on her bed. "Wake me up when you're finished..."

But just as Minako was going to start the game, she hesitated. True, she could have her little game of revenge on her own computer, but... now that her father wasn't home, the appeal of using her father's system once again was tempting.

When she used her own computer to play 'Warcraft Maker', it was just a very good game.

But when she used her father's processor and head gear, everything seemed so much more realistic to her. When using that computer, she kinda WAS in Azeroth.

She thought it over. True, she had promised her father to never use his computer again, but...

"Maybe... maybe only this once," she muttered.

She decided against it. Her father would find out right away and then she would be in big trouble.

But there was something she didn't promise him...

While Artemis kept on snoozing peacefully, Minako hacked her way into the mainframe of her father's company. Well, she didn't use her father's computer, but instead his entry code for using the company's system, which she managed to find out a few days ago. A few clicks later and she started the version of 'Warcraft Maker' which she had installed in a tiny corner of the mainframe's motherboard on that day. And the mainframe of COMPUTRON, which was the name of the company, was so enormous that no one would be able to find it where she had hidden it... or at least so she believed.

A few changes and Shingonia existed in this version of Warcraft Maker as well.

Before starting, she suddenly got a feeling of remorse... but only for a very short instance. Then she saw the smirking face of Usagi's brother before her, and with a dark frown, she started the game.

She would feel bad by using Lina Inverse to attack Shingonia, one of Azeroth's most renowned heroines, so she took a few minutes to create a new, high-leveled character... a dark general for the army she was going to use. She gave her general black hair and an even darker armor made of metal and leather. She gave her two wicked-looking runeblades and an enormous Thunder Lizard as a mount.

After choosing a squadron of black knights as her storm troop, she grabbed the mouse... and started playing.

The first few defenders were no problem. She mowed down the small amount of soldiers in the frontal barracks effortlessly and moved on through the fields of Shingonia, hacking and slashing left and right.

Minako grinned. This was FUN!

In the end, she reached Shingonia's capital... and now the real fun started. The enemies seemed to appear everywhere at once, but Minako was GOOD tonight. Very good indeed!

SLASH! She was hacking into an enemy rider which foolishly came to close to her.

ZZZAAAAAAPPPP! Her Thunder Lizard spat a lance of electricity into a tower, where something exploded with a loud bang.

SPLURT! Her blades impaled the head of a soldier.

SMASH! BAM! SLICE! ZAP! BOOM! WOOSH!

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!

Minako's face turned into an evil grimace. She knew she wasn't supposed to enjoy this so much, but the very thought of that brat being the emperor of the town she was just destroying was so satisfying that she couldn't stop herself. The strange fact that all of her enemies' seemed to have Shingo's face only stimulated her fighting spirit even more.

Finally, she arrived at Shingo's palace. Together with her Black Knights, she leveled the whole place until not a single opponent was standing, and the whole building was just a big pile of rubble.

Satisfied with the results, she turned around and rode back to her starting point, killing a few stragglers she had overlooked on her way to the palace. When she reached the point, a message appeared in front of her eyes:

'CONGRATULATIONS! YOU WON! Play again?'

She was just going to click on the 'No' button, when she decided against it and leaned back in her chair one last time. She looked at her score.

"316.400 points," she said with a proud smile. Almost as much as she managed to reach in her best playthrough yet. Although a tiny part of her conscience told her that it might not be a good idea, she ignored it and saved her result on the mainframe's hard drive.

Now all she had to do was to check out using her father's password, doing a few additional things, and no one would be able to find out what she had been doing.

When she was finished, she was in extremely good spirits. She shut down her server and even smiled as she pulled out her homework for today. She should do something like this more often.

The smile of her face didn't even vanish after she went to bed and fell asleep.

But while she slept, strange things were happening within COMPUTRON's mainframe...


	4. The Ami behind the Chimera

The next morning, Minako stood up especially late so she would not have to meet her father. Somehow, she always felt bad when she did something she wasn't really supposed to do and then looked at her father's face. She even managed to evade him for most of the rest of the day.

Only at dinner did she see him again. When she saw his cheerful face, she knew that he wasn't able to find out just what she did. Inwardly, she let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Her father frowned, stood up and answered the call. When he came back shortly after, all traces of cheerfulness had vanished from his face.

"I have to go back to the company," he said with a grim face.

"At this time?" his wife wondered. "Did something happen?"

"I'm afraid so. The processor has crashed."

Minako took a deep breath.

"Crashed?" her mother asked. "Which processor?"

"The mainframe," her father replied. "The whole system is down. Do you have an idea how much money the company is going to lose if the mainframe is down for even just an hour? Looks like someone has hacked his way into the main processor and caused a big amount of chaos there."

Minako felt as if her innards were turning into ice. "And they... can find out who did it?" she asked.

"Well whoever did it, he left a few traces. And if he did only one mistake, I'll be able to track him down. And once I find out, well, I wouldn't want to be in his place."

That was what Minako thought as well.

But it looked like she didn't have that choice anymore.

----

The next day was a Sunday, but Minako's father still wasn't home at morning. And there wasn't even an escort of policemen waiting for her in front of the house. It seemed to be a normal, peaceful morning.

Minako had decided to tell neither Artemis nor her friends about what she did, as she was still afraid what might happen if they learned about the truth. And maybe the technicians at COMPUTRON wouldn't even be able to trace her down...

When her father came home in the afternoon, she seemed to be in luck yet again, as he was way too tired to talk to her and he laid down to get some sleep. Minako tried to distract her thoughts by tidying up her room, but almost every few minutes, her gaze fell on her computer, which reminded her of what she had done.

In the evening, she went downstairs to join her parents for dinner, but after heading down the stairs, she noticed that the table wasn't even set, and her parents were sitting on the living room's couch, looking at her seriously.

"Is there... is there something wrong?" she said uncertainly.

Her father looked at her grimly before answering: "Yes, there is! And it's a pity that you don't even seem to be courageous enough to tell me the truth. So, isn't there anything you have to tell me?"

Minako grimaced. Courageous? If her father knew how she and her friends were fighting almost weekly against horrible Youmas and other creatures, he wouldn't talk like that.

"What am I supposed to say?" she asked. "I mean, okay, I did it, and I'm sorry, but it just happened, okay?"

"It just happened?" her father snapped. "IT JUST HAPPENED? Minako, do you even have an idea what you did?"

"Your father told me everything," her mother said with a sad voice. "Did you really use his password to break into his company's mainframe?"

"But... but I didn't destroy anything," Minako defended herself. "I just played a game. You told me yourself, your computer at the company is one of the biggest and most compatible there is."

"That it is," her father nodded. "And by the way, it's also the most expensive one."

"But what's so bad about it?" she asked. "I just took a tiny bit of memory space."

"A tiny bit that doesn't belong to you," her father pointed out. "And besides, this 'tiny bit' has caused a reaction that we aren't able to stop anymore."

"Wh-what?" Minako uttered.

"You didn't know that, right? I just discovered it tonight, when I was going to load one of the company's programs. I was shocked when instead of that program, I was seeing a battle between green-skinned monsters and armored knights on a battlefield. I would have probably never known who was behind this, if I hadn't recognized a few of your characters."

He nodded upon seeing his daughter's pale face. "You heard me. Princess Amelia and Gourry Gabriev... do these names sound familiar? I thought so. But the most peculiar thing about this whole situation is... the portion of the drive that was used by the game isn't as tiny as it had been at the beginning, Minako! It is growing!"

"It's WHAT?" Minako screeched in disbelief. "But... HOW?"

"We don't know that either," her father sighed. "But we tried everything. The program can't be deleted, it just stays and it's getting bigger with every minute. If it keeps growing like that, it'll most probably reach the processor's capacity within a week. And no one knows what will happen then. Maybe it will stop growing, but maybe it will destroy other programs to make room. Our customers are going to have a fit when their orders aren't dealt with in time. We have worked throughout the whole night, every single member of the staff. And tomorrow we'll expect the arrival of a specialist team."

"But who... who's gonna pay for...?" Minako stuttered.

"For all the damage? I'd say the person who caused it. But as I am your father, it might just be that I have to pay for it. But still, I don't believe others will be able to find you out. You managed to cover your tracks very well, and I only managed to find out that you did it by identifying your characters. I even helped you by wiping your traces."

"You did...?"

"Yes, but only because our family won't be able to afford a scandal like that. If we had to pay for the damages, we'd be broke, Minako! I never dreamt that I would have to lie to my boss, but you left me no choice. I deleted all files that might point to you, and I deleted the whole 'Warcraft Maker' program from my own computer. You will do the same. And do you have any other hiding places for your little game?"

"Just... just a copy on CD," Minako admitted. "And the original CD, of course."

"Okay, you'll give those to me. Maybe I can find out what happened by asking in the store where you bought it. Do you remember the store?"

Minako stayed silent, and her father sighed. "So on top of everything, it's a pirate copy. Oh boy! But maybe it's better this way. It will be harder for them to find out the truth. Is there something else you have to tell me?"

"No," Minako murmured. "Only that I'm sorry..."

"Well, I hope so." Her father stood up and wanted to leave the room, but before he left, he turned around one more time to her and said: "I believe you have to do something on your computer. And afterwards, you're grounded!"

Minako didn't even ask for how long. But she believed it might be a time span of about ten thousand years...

----

When she returned to her room, Artemis was already waiting for her. He shook his head.

"I could listen to everything they said. And I hate to say it, but..."

"Artemis... please! Not now! We can talk about this later, but... please leave me alone for now, okay?"

Realizing that she was taking it much worse than he thought, the white moon cat wisely decided to stay quiet for now.

Minako didn't only just delete her own version of the game on her computer, she even formatted her computer's hard drive, so that no trace of her own, created version of Azeroth was left. She knew she did nothing but deleting a big amount of zeros and ones, but still she felt as if she had just killed a good friend.

When she got ready to go to bed, she took a glance at the computer and sighed. Then she reached out to turn it off for the night.

But before she could reach the button, something strange happened: Her monitor suddenly sprang to life, flickered a bit, and then... a face appeared on it. A face she knew very well.

The face of Amelia Wil Tesla Lothar, princess of Azeroth!

The image was very blurry and shrouded by weird clouds, but it was clearly her virtual friend she had created for her own version of the Warcraft game.

"Miss Lina!" Amelia shouted with relief. "Finally, I found you! You have to come for our aid! We..."

She then blinked and leaned closer to the screen. "Miss... Miss Lina!"

That was downright impossible! Amelia only existed on her own version of Warcraft Maker. A version which she had personally deleted within the last few hours. And no other copy of that game existed.

Well, except for that version that was running amok on COMPUTRON's mainframe.

"You aren't Miss Lina!" Amelia said. "How... how did you appear in the magical sphere?"

"I... I'm not Lina Inverse," Minako replied.

"I've tried to contact her for weeks! Who are you?"

But before Minako could say anything else, the image wavered and suddenly, her monitor turned itself off.

Minako turned around to stare at Artemis in disbelief.

"What... the heck just happened?"

----

The following day, Minako wasn't keen to do anything. She felt tired and ummotivated. At school, her friends tried figuring out what her problem was and if they could help her.

But to understand her, Minako would have to tell them the whole story... and that was impossible. She even felt dirty not being able to tell her fellow Senshi pals. Artemis might be right when he said that they would probably never tell anyone, and somehow Minako believed that too, but... she just couldn't bring herself to say it.

As things were now, Artemis was the only guy she could talk to about her problems. And while the white tomcat was a good friend, he had his troubles to find the right words at the same time.

Luckily, her mother had an idea to cheer her up and to distract her from the disaster.

"I'm going to the market," she said, looking into Minako's room. "You wanna come along?"

Minako hesitated. She'd love to get out of this room for once, but...

"Won't Daddy get upset?" she asked. "I'm still grounded, am I?"

"Nonsense!" her mother protested. "You need to get out of this room every now and then. Distract yourself from your brooding! Besides, I could use someone who helps me carry my shopping bags."

Minako smiled and nodded at her mother, jumping off her bed. As she looked back to Artemis, he gave her a wink that was saying 'Have fun!'

----

"You don't understand, Mom!" a whiny boy's voice echoed over the supermarket's parking lot. "It's gone!"

"Shingo, for the last time, I'm not interested in hearing about your silly games," Mrs. Tsukino sighed as she and her two children entered the UNIVERSE, the biggest market in the vicinity of Juuban. "Tell it to Usagi, or your friends!"

"I already told her..." Shingo said with a grim glance at his sister. "But she wouldn't listen either."

"Well, is that so surprising? Why should I care if you accidentally deleted your game scenario?" Usagi replied while giving her brother the raspberry.

"I didn't delete it!" Shingo protested. "It's just GONE! I'm telling you, Shingonia is GONE!"

"Shingo, you act like an immature brat," Usagi sighed as they entered the market.

"Welcome at the Universe!" a pleasant voice came out of a speaker when they entered. "Enjoy your stay!"

"I simply love this market," Mrs. Tsukino smiled. "Everything is automated, even the cash registers."

"I don't know," Usagi frowned. "I prefer the good old method, where you'll be served by a human."

"Well, there are still humans working here... someone has to maintain the computer system after all. But they hardly have to intervene ever. It's a completely, state of the art maintaining system, created by that big computer company, COMPUTRON. Doesn't Mina-chan's father work there?"

Usagi nodded. Shingo was still muttering under his breath that his precious kingdom was gone.

Together, they entered an elevator.

"Which floor?" another, but still pleasant voice asked.

Shingo's face immediately brightened. "Video Games!" he demanded.

"So the third floor it is," the computer voice said. "Toys for toddlers, action figures, role-playing games..."

"No, we need to go to the second floor!" Mrs. Tsukino said while showing her son a deep scowl. "To the food department."

Shingo angrily crossed his arms. Usagi shook her head. Sometimes, she wondered why her brother always had to act as immature as a four-year-old...

"Now don't be sad, sweetie!" the computer said. "Maybe your Mommy will take you to our Toy Land some other time."

Usagi giggled. While it was indeed impressive that the AI of the computer program was able to react in such a manner, it still didn't seem to be able to distinguish between small toddlers and a boy that was Shingo's age.

Her mother huffed at the speaker where the computer's voice was coming from. "You know, I'm starting to believe that a real human liftboy would be better than this contraption..."

"Well, excuuuse me for doing my job, Miss Perfect!" the computer replied in a snotty voice. "You can always go to the manager's office and complain."

Usagi and her mother exchanged a confused look. Now that was a strange reaction for a computer.

"But on the other hand, you'd rather not put your foot in there. You know what he's doing in there?" The computer's voice lowered itself to a conspiratorial whisper. "In truth, Mr. Futaba has locked the door of his office, and he and his secretary are on his table right now and they're..."

"STOP! I don't want to hear that!" Mrs. Tsukino yelled. Her face was turning red, but Usagi couldn't tell if she was just blushing or if she was red with fury... or both.

"Well, if you don't wanna hear... why did you ask in the first place?" the computer griped. The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

"Hey, this is the first floor!" Usagi complained.

"So what?" the elevator asked. "You can walk the rest of the way. A little exercise would do your body well, young lady!" And after they left the elevator, its doors closed shut right behind them.

"I... I don't believe this..." Mrs. Tsukino said, outrage in her voice.

"Is there a problem?" a young man in a sales clerk uniform behind them asked.

"This... THING!" Mrs. Tsukino shouted and gestured at the elevator. "First it insults us, then it throws us out!"

The young man sighed. "The elevators as well?"

"What do you mean, 'as well'?" Usagi asked curiously.

"Please..." The man raised his hands apologetically. "I am very sorry for what happened. Since this very morning, the whole system is going crazy. Nothing works as it should: The cash registers, the lighting, the escalators... We already considered closing early today, but up to now, nothing serious happened."

"So you're waiting until something happens?" Mrs. Tsukino asked furiously.

"Of course not," the young man answered and grew pale. "Please, accept this food coupon as an apology. You can exchange it for a piece of cake in the cafe on our roof terrace." And he ripped a coupon from a small pad that was attached to his trousers. It looked like he already had to give away a sizeable amount of coupons this day.

"I'm still going to complain," Usagi's mother insisted after accepting the coupon. "Right after Mr. Futaba and his secretary are approachable again."

The sales clerk stared at her. "How... how do you know...?"

"Ask the elevator!" Mrs. Tsukino replied and left. Shingo and Usagi followed her.

----

About half an hour later, Minako and her mother (they had entered the supermarket shortly after the Tsukinos) were standing at the end of a very long row that was leading to the cash registers. Several of the automated machines had been shut down, because they weren't working correctly.

"Your father told me about this so-called 'UNIVERSE project'," her mother said. "He told me the computer used for this supermarket is one of the most advanced they have created... but he also said that it's connected to COMPUTRON's mainframe."

She gave her daughter a look and whispered. "You don't suppose that what happens here has anything to do with... you know... what you did?"

Minako had already contemplated that thought. She wasn't an expert in computers like her father was, though... In fact, she only managed to hack into COMPUTRON's system by pure luck.

Suddenly, a voice called for them. Minako and her mother turned around and recognized the Tsukinos, who were coming towards them.

While the two mothers greeted each other, Shingo gave Minako a grim look. "It was YOU!" he suddenly shouted. "YOU made Shingonia disappear!"

"W-W-WHAT??" Minako gasped in surprise.

"Just ignore him," Usagi whispered. "He has been speaking nonsense ever since we entered the market."

Suddenly, all of their conversations were interrupted by a loud shriek coming from the cash register. One of the robotic arms attached to the register had grabbed a carrying bag with a small baby inside, which a young mother had apparently transported within her shopping cart.

"If you don't plan to pay for the wares, I'm afraid I'll have to take it back to where you took it from," yet another computer voice said sternly.

"LET GO!" the young woman screamed. "That's my baby!!"

"HELP!" the computer shouted. "A THIEF! Call the police! Get her! Put her into prison! HEEEELLLPP!"

The robotic arm grabbed one side of the baby's portable crib, the woman grabbed the other side, and a violent game of tug-of-war started between the arm and the young mother, while the baby's crying grew louder and louder. Some technicians and sales clerks tried shutting the machine down, but it didn't look like they were very successful.

Minako and Usagi looked at each other in concern. Should they intervene? It was their duty as the sailor-suited defenders of the earth to protect the people from harm, after all...

A slot opened up within the cash register and a barrage of plastic chips, which were used by the customers to pay for their wares, came raining down on the poor mother.

The young woman's struggle against the robotic arm intensified, and Minako was already nervously fingering her transformation wand... when suddenly, it was over!

The cash register gave off an almost human-sounding sigh and the robotic claw loosened its grip on the crib with the baby. The chip barrage stopped, and the technicians looked up from their work in surprise.

The young woman, not wanting to take any chances, grabbed her baby, left her shopping cart behind and ran out of the building, ignoring the staff members that were approaching her, obviously to apologize for the incident.

"What... just happened?" Usagi wondered.

They looked over to the cash register... and gasped in surprise when they noticed the blue-haired girl standing nearby. In one hand, she was holding a cable which she was swinging back and forth.

Now one of the technicians shook off his surprise and muttered: "What, you... you just pulled... the plug?"

Ami grinned. "Of course! This method is always the best way to deal with a bothersome, electric device."

The technician took in a deep breath. He seemed overwhelmed that this young schoolgirl managed to do what he and his men couldn't accomplish together... particularly because this feat was really the next thing they should have tried.

"Well, you certainly have a good capacity of reaction, girl," he finally said. "Good work!"

"Thank you!" Ami smiled and handed him the cable of the cash register. She grinned and walked over to her friends. "Hi there, Usagi, Minako!"

"Wow, way to go, Ami!" Usagi blurted out. "Good thinking there! I'd have never thought of that. And did you see the faces of those technicians?"

"Yes, I really saved their precious asses, right?" Ami grinned.

Minako frowned. Since when did Ami talk in such a manner?

Then she froze. WHERE DID SHE HEAR THAT PHRASE BEFORE?

The uproar caused by that incident quickly went down after the staff members of the supermarket shut down the malfunctioning cash register. By now, only two of their eight registers were working accordingly. Some people muttered angrily as they walked over to the other rows of people behind the other registers, but quite a few simply left their gathered wares behind and left.

The two mothers of Minako and Usagi were talking to each other about the incident, and Shingo simply leaned against a wall and decided to ignore the stir all around him. That gave the three girls a few minutes to talk to themselves.

Minako decided to go for it!

"Listen, girls!" she whispered. "I might know what the reason behind these breakdowns is..."

Usagi and Ami looked at each other, then Ami nodded and said: "Okay, but if it concerns Senshi business, we shouldn't talk about it in front of all these people."

"Well, we certainly can't meet at my place," Usagi said. "You know how nosy Shingo can be. Mina-chan, what about your place...?"

Minako paled. "Forget it!" she uttered, imagining what her father would do if he found out that she was blabbing out their secret.

"No worries, we can meet at my place," Ami calmed her two friends. "My Mom will be on her night shift in the hospital all night long, so we have the whole place for ourselves."

"Great, now I just have to ask my Mom..."

"USAGI TSUKINO! How many times do I have to call you? We're leaving, now!"

Usagi sighed. "Sorry, guys, but you know how my Mom can be when she's this irritable. I'll try to come after you, but I can't promise anything..."

"That's all right, Usagi, we'll be fine by ourselves."

"Okay, should I inform Makoto and Rei?"

"USAGI!" her mother yelled. "Today, please!"

"Oops, gotta run, guys!" Usagi muttered and ran over to her mother. "See ya later, guys!"

"So, shall we go?" Ami asked her other blonde friend.

"In a minute," Minako said after giving her blue-haired friend a firm look. "I'll have to tell my mother first."

She walked over to her mother. "Mom, can I go over to Ami's?"

Mrs. Aino frowned. "I don't know, dear... Your father won't like that idea. You know you're technically still grounded, do you?"

"I know, but c'mon, Mom! We'll behave ourselves. And I promise I won't do anything bad, I promise!"

Her mother sighed. "All right, I know Ami is a good girl and she'll be able to keep you in line... Fine, but make sure to be back at dinner time, okay?"

"Got it, Mom! Thanks, you're the best!"

----

Some time later, Minako and Ami were entering the Mizuno household. As Ami had said, her mother wasn't there. They went into Ami's room and Minako frowned upon seeing the computer that was standing on her friend's desk.

"You know, there have been a few times I wanted to give Zelgadis a good beating... but I'd never guessed that it was you hiding behind that rocky face."

"Are you surprised?" Ami asked.

"A little bit, yeah!" Minako nodded. "How did you manage to hack into my game? I always thought you wouldn't do such a thing."

"You're kinda right with that, but I just couldn't resist the temptation. The idea of being a character you created for your own version of the game without you ever knowing was too tempting to resist."

Minako didn't say anything. She just sat down on Ami's bed and scowled at her.

"What's wrong?" Ami asked. "You're not mad at me, aren't you?"

"Well, you DID push me through that portal..."

Ami sighed. "I'm sorry about that, but you just made me so mad that day. You really didn't play fair that evening. Did you really have to use that Cheat?"

"Do you have something against cheats?" Minako asked.

"Actually, yes I do! They're taking all the fun out of the game. It's boring when you know that you can't lose, see?"

"Well, I'm not too angry at Zelgadis anymore," Minako admitted. "The person I'm angry at is AMELIA!"

Ami blinked in confusion. "What? Princess Amelia from the game? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't give me that, Ami!" Minako grumbled. "Only you, I and my father know about the characters in my game. Who else would have sent me that message if not you?"

"What... what are you talking about?" Ami wondered, completely taken aback.

Now Minako was taken aback herself. "You... you wanna tell me... that wasn't you?"

"What do you mean?" Ami asked again.

And Minako told her everything about the strange image of Amelia that had appeared on her monitor.

When she was finished, the blue-haired girl genius was scratching her head. "Whoever would do something like this?"

"Don't ask me," Minako shrugged. "I can only tell you that it couldn't be my father. He has enough trouble keeping all of this a secret from his company." Suddenly, she gulped. "Maybe another employee from COMPUTRON found me out?"

"We'll get to the bottom of this," Ami said decidedly and sat down in front of her computer. "Give me a few minutes, and I'll find out who gave you a call that evening."

Knowing that Ami was much more knowledgeable about these kind of things, Minako let her do her work, glad to have a friend like her. At the same time, she felt guilty for having suspected her.

After a few minutes, Ami frowned. "Now that's strange," she said.

"What is it?" Minako wanted to know.

"The call. It was coming from COMPUTRON!"

Minako paled. "So, somebody really did find out what I did? Oh, my dad's going to kill me..."

Ami shook her head. "No, I don't think so. You see, the call wasn't made by a human... it came directly from the computer. And not just the computer, it came from the part of the computer's main storage, where your version of 'Warcraft Maker' is still running amok."

It took Minako a few seconds to realize what that meant. "You... you mean you know about..."

Ami smiled. "Don't worry, I can keep a secret. True, what you did wasn't exactly the right thing to do, but they really didn't use the best protection. Every bloke who knows just a bit about hacking would have been able to get into their system."

"Thanks, I got the picture..." Minako grumbled. "But what about that call? If it came directly from the game, then..."

"Yes, in a sense, Amelia actually DID give you a call. Or at least, she tried to reach Lina Inverse." She shook her head. "I'd really like to find out just what the heck is going on in there..."

"Maybe it'll all be over by tomorrow," Minako said with a sigh. "My father said that tomorrow, a few specialists will arrive to take a good look at the system. And he believes that they will be able to fix everything."

"Yes, I heard about that from my father too," Ami nodded. She smirked when her blonde friend looked at her in surprise. "Didn't I tell you? My father is working for COMPUTRON as well, in the same department as your father."

Minako looked at her watch. "Oh shit, is it that late already? Ami, I gotta go home or my father's gonna have a fit. I'll call you, okay? Let's just hope that all of this doesn't get any worse. I mean, you saw what that cash register did to the baby."

"Of course!" Ami chuckled. "I was the one who pulled the plug, remember?"

"Oh yeah, of course," Minako grinned sheepishly. "Well, see ya, Ami! Good night!"

"Good night!"


	5. Meeting the Doomhammer

"Minako! Wake up! Your friend Ami's on the phone!"

Minako turned around in her bed and pressed her pillow on her ears. "Mmmmmmh... just a few seconds, Mom..."

It was Sunday morning, and thus, neither Minako nor Ami had school. Still Minako would have thought that her blue-haired friend would sleep just a bit longer and the weekend, or at least respect her friends' well-served rest.

"Whazza matter, Ami?" she sleepily murmured as she received the telephone from her mother. "What d'ya doin' up already on Sunday morning, this early?"

"Minako! They entered the game!"

"Wha...? What are you babbling about?" Minako asked, trying to wake up just a bit more.

"The technicians I told you about! The ones that COMPUTRON hired to take a look at their system... they're already at the company's headquarters."

"Ah, those guys... but what's so special about that? And how do you know this anyway?"

"My father just came home to fetch a few papers for his work, and he told me about it. Didn't your father tell you as well?"

"I think Dad slept over at COMPUTRON..." Minako mumbled. "Or he didn't sleep at all, as far as I know him... So what's the big deal?"

"Minako, the three technicians... they have decided to take a look at the problem from inside, and they... well, they entered the game."

"They did WHAT?"

"It's true!" Ami replied. "They're now in Azeroth... the version of Azeroth you created. But the bad thing about all this: As soon as they logged into the game, they went comatose."

"Oh boy..." Minako groaned. "And the other workers couldn't do anything?"

"No, they're afraid that something might happen to the three men if they just take off their headgear or pull the plug. Minako, we have to do something."

"Well, what do you expect me to do?" Minako asked.

"Simple, we have to enter the game ourselves and search for them. The others won't be able to come, as they don't really have the time to create a character. Besides, Rei and Makoto don't even own the game, and Usagi can't stay at the computer for a long time, as she has to share it with her brother. Is Lina Inverse ready to go?"

"Well, I would be ready... but Lina isn't! I had to delete all traces of the game on my computer, remember? That also includes her character. I will have to create a new one before entering the game."

"That's just great..." Ami sighed. "Oh well, Zelgadis is a strong guy... I suppose I can take care of everything until you can follow me. Are you fine by yourself?"

"Yeah, no worries!"

"Okay, then I'll go ahead without you for now. But please hurry up!"

"You got it," Minako nodded, and then Ami hang up.

After putting the phone away, Minako realized that entering the game might prove to be more difficult than she had thought. As her computer was void of any 'Warcraft Maker' version right now, and she gave her father the original CD, the only way to get into Azeroth was to once again hack into COMPUTRON's central computer at her father's PC.

Breaking the promise she made to her father would make her feel guilty and scared of her Dad's wrath at the same time... but what other options did she have? She certainly wouldn't want to let Ami get in there all by herself.

Her father would be at the company all day long, and her mother was going to visit a friend, meaning she had the whole house to herself, so...

She waited until her mother had left the house, then she entered her father's computer room.

She felt extremely guilty as she approached the computer desk, but her resolve to help Ami and save the three technicians made her go onward. She sat down and booted the computer up.

After once again using her father's password to enter COMPUTRON's mainframe, she found herself in the starting menu of the game, Warcraft Maker.

"All right, I don't have enough time to create a character as fancy as Lina, so I'll have to settle with one of the standard character classes... so, let's get to work!"

In the end, she managed to create a mighty Amazon-like hero who was thrice as fast and powerful as a regular human, could climb like a monkey, swim like a fish and knew how to use five different kinds of weapon types. Using the stored amount of credits she had earned in previous games, she also purchased a massive armor for her female warrior, which included an impressive breastplate, a horned helmet and a giant, circular shield. She also bought a humongous, two-handed sword, two smaller swords, a sharp dagger, a long elven bow and 100 arrows. Strapped on her back was a mace which probably couldn't even be lifted by normal human beings, and dangling from her belt were two pouches, one of them containing dozens of gold pieces, the other one various magical potions.

"Well, she's not nearly as powerful as Lina could be with her spells... but she will have to do," Minako shrugged. "Now, I have to hurry. Ami will probably be already waiting for me..."

She put on the head-mounted display and clicked on 'Start Game'...

It was completely different from all the other times she had 'entered' Azeroth... At first, she could only see darkness. Then she felt as if she was dragged through a tunnel, a tunnel with a shining light at its end.

Finally, she reached the light... and then, something immensely heavy fell down on her and threw her down to the ground.

Minako groaned. She tried standing up, but the weight on her back kept pressing her down to the ground... a ground which was strangely covered with grass. And she was fairly sure that there weren't any rocks or pebbles lying around in her father's room...

She looked up, but she could see nothing. Suddenly, a painful flash of bright light shone into her eyes, and she realized that something resembling a giant bucket was sitting atop her head.

She would have to try figuring out what happened to her a bit later, so she tried getting out from under whatever was pinning her down. As she moved, she could feel strange straps that were noosed around her limbs. She carefully tried slipping out of them... and then she let out a sharp yelp when her fingers met with something that was hard, heavy, icy to the touch and EXTREMELY sharp. She must have gotten quite a cut on her finger.

Nevertheless, she carefully wriggled out of the curious contraption on her back. The cut on her finger was joined by two others, before she finally was able to get her arms free, which allowed her to take that bothersome bucket from her head.

Painfully bright light shone down on her, from an extremely bright sun on a weird, cloudless sky, which was colored in a strange, icky tone of blue.

She was lying on a very wide plain, with no signs of hills, forests or buildings around her. The grass she was lying on was colored with an almost painfully bright green, and the mountain range she could see in a distance was a sickly-looking, sandy brown. And if that wasn't enough, all of the small grass patches that rose out of the shorter grass were looking exactly the same.

Suddenly, Minako realized that she was looking at what looked like an extremely simple computer graphic, of a quality that no reasonable programmer would try to sell nowadays. Not even closely resembling the almost-real looking illusion of her Azeroth, not even the very good graphics on her normal computer screen.

This was almost looking like something that was... unfinished.

The strange view had distracted her from looking down to what had pressed her to the ground until now.

It looked almost as bizarre as it was ridiculous.

Up to her hip, Minako was stuck in something that resembled a big amount of scrap metal, attached to her body and legs with thin leather straps. But it was no scrap. It was the armor she had purchased for her new game character.

The thing that was responsible for the nasty cuts on her right hand was the sharp dagger hanging from her belt, and most of the weight on her back came from the enormous cudgel she had been so proud of. The metal bucket on her head was simply the horned helmet, and let's not forget the added weight of the breastplate and shield. Also hanging from her belt was a key ring with keys which were nearly as big as her transformation wand (about forty of them were hanging from the ring), a leather pouch with dozens of golden coins (around fifty kilograms), a second pouch with five golden rings, countless cracked jewels, a dead bird (not too heavy, but the smell made her wrinkle her nose) and three bottles with potions, one of them broken by her sudden crash to the ground.

Not only had her chosen equipment appeared on her, but also a sizeable amount of junk from previous games, some items she had never wanted to keep.

Then she realized something else...

She wasn't in the body of an all-powerful amazon, otherwise she would have been able to lift all of this quite easily.

She was her normal self, Aino Minako, in no way stronger than she usually was, and she was stuck in a strange vicinity, one that looked almost like...

Before she could finish that thought, a strange twitch was going through the landscape... and then something like a straight line of shadows was running over the plains. She winced as the shadows reached her, went past her without leaving any notable feeling, and wandered towards the faraway mountains.

And when she looked around, she could see that the landscape around her had changed. Not by much, but enough to make it clear to her what had happened.

Now not every patch of grass was looking the same anymore, the sun wasn't nearly as bright as before, and the colors of the grass and the mountains didn't seem as icky as before.

It seemed to her as if the 'graphics' of the land she found herself in were improving by the minute... and when she took a look at the mountains, she saw that they were actually farther away from her than before.

"This IS Azeroth..." she murmured to herself. "But it's... it's growing!"

----

After a while, Minako decided, with a heavy heart, to leave behind most of her valuable equipment. The weapons and most of her armor were just too heavy to carry all of it around. She just took the dagger within its sheath, as well as the money pouch. She had to pour more than half of its contents out, however... gold was so damned heavy.

She hesitated when looking at the two-handed sword. It was her most effective weapon (second only to the mace - she didn't even try to lift that thing)... but at the same time, so unbelievably heavy. In the end, the strapped in on her back anyways, staggering around at first with the added ballast.

She also left most of the stuff from the second pouch behind. It was highly unlikely that she would need jewelry and gems out here, in the wilderness. She also opened up the two potions and gulped them down. The liquid tasted horrible and stuck to her teeth like half-solidified maple syrup, but she didn't regret her decision, as she felt herself being strengthened by the potions' magical properties. She would need any portion of strength on her way to the city of Lordaeron.

Because that was her goal. She knew she would have to meet with Ami soon, and if she was at least a bit more in luck than Minako, she would be here as her character Zelgadis... and the place where she was most likely to find any information about his whereabouts was the capital of the humans, and at the same time, the most important bastion against the Orcish Horde.

When she finally started her long and arduous journey, she looked back at the treasures she had to leave behind with pity.

The whole day long, she walked across the bizarre plains, under a painfully bright, searing hot sun, always moving away from the mountains. For if her assumption was correct, and the world of Azeroth was indeed growing, those mountains would probably be the barrier that made it impossible for any character, may it be a hero or an NPC, to leave Azeroth.

At midday, she rested at the edge of a small river, but the pale-blue water looked at artificial as everything in this strange new part of Azeroth, and she wasn't even able to scoop it up with her hands.

"Seems like the laws of nature have yet to hold true for these new parts..." she muttered to herself. With a sigh, she sat down in the almost non-existent shadows of a spindly tree while taking her well-earned rest. At least she found a tiny bag of peanuts in her jeans' pockets, but the salty taste only made her even thirstier.

Over the second half of the day, the landscape was finally starting to look more natural. Obviously, whatever force made Azeroth grow was mainly focussing on fine-tuning the visual (as well as all the other) aspects of the land closer to the center of the realm. And the more the world was spreading, the more detailed became the new lands.

Just as she was going to ponder if the growing was ever going to stop, she head a very strange sound.

It sounded almost like the rattle of her baby cousin, which she always had with her when her aunt was coming for a visit, but at the same time, completely different.

Minako peered ahead and saw a roughly human-looking figure approaching her. It seemed to be a warrior with a helmet and a curved sword.

While she didn't know which faction this guy belonged to, everything seemed better than to stay here, out in the open, under the scorching sun, so she stood up and started waving.

"Hey, over here! Hey, come this way!"

She was overjoyed to finally meet another human. She had already considered the possibility that this might be a thievish ruffian or a member of a bandit gang, but she knew that in the worst case, she had always weapons to defend herself.

When the figure came close enough that she could recognize its face, it was the first time that she considered that this guy didn't necessarily had to be a human being.

She was looking at the dusty, cracked surface of a skeletal grin, etched on the creature's skull for all eternity.

It was a human skeleton, animated by magical means, a deadly warrior that knew neither fear nor fatigue. Minako vaguely remembered that Gul'dan once had animated a squadron of human skeletons and sent the Undead against their former human brethren. They were bothersome, but not a very grave threat... not to Lina Inverse and her merry gang of adventurers!

Minako was so horrified and fascinated at the same time that she almost forgot to defend herself. But then she reached around and grabbed her two-handed blade, intent on slicing the undead abomination in half.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten that she hadn't entered the world in the body of a powerful warrior, but as herself, Minako Aino. So while she managed to pull the weapon from her back, it never connected with the skeleton warrior's skull, as she had planned. Instead, the weapon's massive weight pulled her back, making her stumble backwards uncontrollably.

Minako shrieked as she fell down on her back, while her undead opponent approached, raising his curved blade for the killing blow.

It was then that Minako's hand slipped into her pocket... and there, right under the peanut bag, her fingers clasped around something solid.

A shape she knew just too well.

In surprise, she pulled out her Transformation Wand. It never had occurred to her that she might have been able to use her Senshi magic in a virtual world, so she hadn't even searched for it after she had arrived in Azeroth.

In the corner of her eyes, she saw the flashing of sunlight on reflecting metal, and with a yelp, she rolled away just as the skeleton's saber cut through the grass she just had been laying on. Only the reflexes she had gained while training for volleyball had saved her.

Her Senshi experience in battle came to her mind, and she swiftly jumped back up to her feet, raising the wand high above her head and shouting:

"VENUS STAR POWER, MAKE UP!"

While she transformed into Sailor Venus, the skeleton stopped for a short while. Minako didn't know if his primitive thought patterns, if he even had some, couldn't quite grasp the sense behind her actions, or if the bright light show was simply blinding him, as all undead monsters were weak to the light.

Not wasting any time, Sailor Venus gestured at the skeleton with her right arm and shouted: "CRESCENT BEAM!"

Her trusty energy beam came shooting out of her fingertips, hitting the undead warrior right in the middle of his exposed ribcage.

The skeleton fell apart in a shower of bone particles and metal fragments of his armor. Minako looked down at her fallen opponent in surprise.

"Wow, either I had the advantage because my light attack was very effective against him... or the undead aren't what they used to be."

She then remembered that skeleton enemies in the Warcraft games had never been very strong creatures, and that magical spells hurled by mages, priests, shamans or other spell casters were mostly sufficient to take one of them out.

She then stared down at her sailor fuku.

"I'm not an expert of virtual reality, but... I don't think I should be able to use my Senshi powers in here..." she muttered. "But then again, how many scientists have ever been able to research the compatibility of modern technology and Senshi magic?"

She shook her head. Pondering about it wouldn't be very helpful right now. She had to hurry and try to reach the nearest human settlement, or she would turn into a dried husk in the middle of this burning heat. Some food and water would be fine, too.

So she kept on walking.

Nothing of importance happened to her until nightfall. It was slowly getting darker, as the sun was slowly vanishing behind the still fake-looking mountains in the far distance behind her.

And as hot as the days in this strange land were, as cold were the nights.

Minako felt very tired, so she decided to look for a place where she could spend the night. But the only spot she found was a tall tree in the middle of the plains. At least she found a crotch among the branches that was solid enough for her to rest on. She ate the remaining peanuts as dinner and hoped that by tomorrow, she would be able to find some edible berries, along with some water which she could actually drink.

Feeling cold and hungry, the Senshi of Venus finally fell asleep, curled up among the leaves of the tree.

----

In the middle of the night, Minako awoke with a gasp. Her legs had fallen asleep because of the uncomfortable position she had been crouched in, but that was not the reason why she had woken up.

She had heard a noise. A low grumbling that wasn't too far away from where she was resting.

When she looked down the tree, she almost fell off the tree in surprise when she realized who was moving past the tree.

They were Orcs. A giant caravan of green creatures, many of them afoot, but quite a big amount of them also riding on giant, feral-looking wolves. Among them was also a big amount of Trolls and Goblins.

In spite of her numb legs, Minako tried very hard not to move as they marched along. She knew, would they spot her, she was done for.

"Well, crap!" she muttered under her breath. "What a way to start the day..."

She sighed. "I'll never be able to get away when they see me," she muttered to herself. Had it been just a single Grunt or a small mob of Orcs, she might have been able to defend herself, but this... this was a small army of trained warriors and killers, and Minako doubted her Youma-defeating skills were enough to save her ass in such a situation.

So she did the most intelligent thing and hid among the leaves. She knew that she had to stay very quiet, as even the slightest movement would catch the attention of the wolves. She knew no being on Azeroth that could hear or smell better than those beasts.

The wind turned out to be her savior. The slight breeze that was blowing across the plains covered her smell from the wolves, and so she stayed undetected.

When the last one of the caravan had passed her tree, she waited until they were far enough until she allowed herself to take a deep breath of relief. She was just going to climb down the tree, when she noticed a straggler coming after the Orcs.

The creature was small, even for a goblin, and its giant ears seemed to be bigger than its entire head, if combined. Minako winced when she saw the goblin. She knew how good these little runts could hear.

She almost managed to stay silent, but then her numb legs betrayed her and slowly slipped down the branch she was sitting on, breaking apart a tiny twig.

It would have been an almost inaudible noise for everyone else... but not for the goblin. His enormous ears suddenly perked up and he looked into Minako's direction. And even before he could open his mouth, she knew that she was detected.

And then the goblin let out a shrill whistle that made the Senshi's ears ring. Even so, she jumped down the tree, ignoring the dull pain that was jutting through her legs. She turned around and started running. A fight would have been useless... she wasn't able to fight off an entire troop of Orcs all by herself.

Suddenly, something hit her back and knocked her flat down on the ground. Minako rolled around with a wince, looked up... and stared right into the most ugly face she had ever seen.

The enormous wolf snarled at her while saliva was dripping down his jaws. She knew, would she move just an inch, the monster would bite off a leg... or even more than that.

Minako's heart was beating rapidly as her gaze slowly wandered upwards, from the face of the wolf to the creature that was sitting in its saddle, looking almost like an enormous, armored toad. Compared to the Orc, the wolf almost seemed like a beauty queen.

But that was not the worst of it. The Orc Minako was looking at was none other but Orgrimm Doomhammer, warchief of the Horde.

Minako was convinced that Doomhammer would just lift his enormous war hammer and strike her down where she stood, but he did nothing. He just looked down at her quietly.

Then he spoke up in a deep and rumbling, but surprisingly calm voice: "What are you doing here?"

"I... I..." Minako didn't know what perplexed her more, the fact that Doomhammer seemed to be able to perfectly speak the Common Language of the humans, or that he actually started a conversation with her.

"Who are you?" Doomhammer asked. "Can't you speak or are you so afraid that you can't say a single word?"

In a fluid motion that contrasted to his enormous bulk, the warchief slid off his mount's saddle and landed next to Minako, with an impact that made the ground beneath them shake.

Minako wanted to answer, but suddenly, a tiny green shape came flying out of nowhere, sat down on her stomach and shook her shoulders violently.

"DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT THE WARCHIEF ASKED YOU, PALEFACE? ANSWER HIM!"

Minako winced. The volume in which the goblin had screamed made her ears ring. Effortlessly shoving the small pest off her body, she stood up, slowly, and always keeping an eye on Doomhammer.

"My... my name is Minako," she finally said. "I... I am not your enemy."

She wanted to hit herself on the head after she said that. 'Great job, Minako!' she scolded herself. 'You couldn't think of a more corny sentence, right?'

Doomhammer looked at her sceptically. "What are you doing in these parts, young lady?" he asked. "You are a human child, right?"

"I'm not a child!" Minako protested, forgetting for a short time who was standing in front of her.

Doomhammer shook his head in disbelief. "Amazing! They say we are monsters but leave their young ones to the dangers of the wilderness... Aren't you afraid of us, girl? We are dangerous monsters that eat children, you know?"

Minako blinked. Was the warchief mocking her?

"I really don't want to cause any trouble," she once again tried to talk her way out of this. "I just had been resting, that's all. I was on my way to..."

'Now what am I going to say?' she wondered. 'That I'm going to Lordaeron, to join with the human forces that are your sworn enemies?'

"Well, where are you going?" Doomhammer asked.

"I... I don't know..." Minako stammered.

The goblin that was standing at her feet kicked against her leg. "ANSWER THE QUESTION, PALEFACE!" he yelled. "SHOW THE WARCHIEF SOME RESPECT!"

Minako gave the goblin an angry glare but ignored him afterwards.

"I don't know," she said as she looked back at Doomhammer. "I... I am lost. You are right, I am a human girl, but I was separated from my family. I hoped I would be able to meet with them again, but..."

She hoped the Orc would fall for the little lie. She knew she couldn't possibly tell him the truth... Besides, he would never believe her.

"Your family?" Doomhammer asked. "You want to tell me that there are more members of your race out here?"

"Yes. I mean, no, but they..."

"Yes or no?" Doomhammer asked impatiently. "Don't try my patience, I can get pretty irritated when you anger me."

For a short instance, Minako had the weird image how the muscular Orc was rampaging through a human village like some miniature version of the Hulk.

"Not many of them," she then lied. "Only my uncle and two of his friends."

"Where are they?" Doomhammer asked. Minako noticed how his warriors were assembling behind her, many Orcs, a couple of Trolls and even one of the feared, two-headed Ogres.

"I don't know," Minako said in desperation. "Maybe dead, I don't know what happened. I saw some strange... shadows, and then undead skeletons came towards us..."

Maybe if she was playing the part of the scared girl, she would be able to convince Doomhammer of her story.

"Shadows?" he asked.

"Everything looked strange. The mountains and the grass, everything looked... wrong, somehow. I don't know..."

"The New Land," the warchief said pensively and looked at the faraway mountains. He shook his head. "I don't know what to do with you, girl, you know? I would like to believe you, but you palefaces are prone to lying." He crossed his arms in front of his armor. "Now what am I supposed to do with you?" he asked with a sigh.

"You... could let me go?" Minako suggested hopefully.

"I just might," Doomhammer answered. "But that wouldn't be a wise choice. I don't like the possibility of other humans being nearby. Besides, these are dangerous parts. I think I'll take you with me for now, at least until I decided what to do with you."

"And... what then?" Minako asked with a bad feeling in her gut.

"We'll see," the warchief shrugged. "Maybe we'll let you go. Maybe we'll eat you. GOBBO!"

The small goblin that had kicked against Minako's legs appeared next to him. "YES, MASTER?" he said in his screeching voice.

Doomhammer's finger pointed at Minako. "You'll be responsible for her. Make sure to keep her fed, but don't let her escape. If something happens to her, I'll make you responsible. And now let's move on! We already have wasted enough time."

"AS YOU WISH, MASTER!" the goblin screamed. Minako started to doubt that the tiny guy was able to express himself in any other way than screaming.

Doomhammer mounted his wolf, and the rest of the Orcs and Trolls went back to their place in the caravan as well. One of them handed Gobbo a rope, which he used to tie up Minako's wrists. He also used another, longer rope to make a noose, which he put around her neck. He then gave it a firm pull. "NOW MOVE, PALEFACE!"

Minako frowned at him. "What are you trying to do? Taking me for a walk like a dog?"

"SILENCE, HUMAN! YOU HEARD THE WARCHIEF! YOU ARE MY RESPONSIBILITY!" He pulled at the rope with all his might, but lost his balance and fell down on his butt.

Minako tried very hard not to laugh. That pathetic little guy wouldn't cause too much trouble for her. Still, she knew that she couldn't escape. Not with all of the other Orcs and Trolls around.

"Hey, how about this?" she asked Gobbo. "You stop treating me like your pet and I'm not gonna try to flee."

Gobbo stood up and looked at her suspiciously. "YOU SWEAR IT?" he screeched.

"By my honor!" swore Minako. She made sure the little guy didn't see the crossed fingers behind her back.

Gobbo grimaced and waved around his spindly finger. "OKAY, BUT NO TRICKS! I'M WARNING YOU, I AM SMARTER THAN I LOOK!"

"Okay, okay!" the Senshi of Venus winced. "As long as you stop screaming..."

"WHO'S SCREAMING?" the goblin yelled on the top of his lungs. Minako wisely decided not to say anything else and followed her new 'personal guard'.


	6. Cheat Malfunction

After a long, tiresome march, Minako was pretty exhausted when the caravan stopped to set up camp. Still she had to help, even though she was so tired that she could easily fall asleep while she was standing.

When she was allowed to get to sleep, she simply let herself fall down in the small tent she had to share with Gobbo.

In the morning, she awoke with a hurting back and an empty stomach. She remembered that she hadn't eaten anything the previous evening, she just had been too tired to even think about food.

With a sigh, she turned around... and looked directly at a green, ugly face. At the same moment, she realized that the loud grumbling didn't come from her stomach - Gobbo was simply snoring.

She gave the tiny Goblin a poke between the ribs. "Hey!" she shouted.

Gobbo opened his mouth wide and yawned... then he turned around and kept on sleeping.

Minako shook his shoulder. "Hey, wake up!"

Gobbo grunted, blinked in confusion... and then sat up abruptly. "WHAT? WH-WHAT'S GOING ON? ARE WE UNDER ATTACK?"

"No," Minako replied. "But I think it's time to get up."

Gobbo yawned again. "WHY DID YOU WAKE ME?" he asked sleepily... but still as loudly as usual.

"Well, the warchief said you were responsible for me... and I'm kinda hungry."

"IS THAT MY PROBLEM?" the goblin yelled.

"Well, he wouldn't exactly be happy when he wants to talk to me and I have starved in the meantime. So could you perhaps get me some bread or something? And something to drink would be nice as well."

Gobbo looked at her suspiciously. "YOU WOULDN'T TRY TO ESCAPE, WOULD YOU?"

"No way!" Minako said with feigned indignation, although she tried very hard not to chuckle.

"ALL RIGHT, BUT I'M WARNING YOU!" Gobbo shouted. "NO TRICKS! I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN; WHEREVER YOU GO!"

Minako just smiled innocently, and Gobbo finally crawled out of the tent.

As soon as he was gone, Minako dove for the backside of the tent and raised the tarpaulin.

What she saw made her forget any ideas of escaping from the camp. During the nightly march, she had believed that it was only a small troop of Orcs, but from her point of view, she was able to see at least two dozens of tents. And even if she managed to escape... behind the camp, there was nothing but the endless plains. They would catch up to her easily.

Disappointed, she crawled back and sat down on the floor. No, for now she would have to accept that she was the Orcs' prisoner.

When Gobbo returned some time later, he brought a small tray with some bread and meat, as well as a mug with water.

Minako hungrily dove at the food, shoveling it into her mouth as if she was a Sayajin.

When she was finished, she emptied the mug of water with one gulp, put it down and let out a loud belch.

"DIDN'T YOUR PARENTS FEED YOU ENOUGH OR ARE ALL PALEFACES YOUR AGE EATING LIKE THAT?" Gobbo asked.

"Well, no, I was just hungry," Minako replied. "I've been alone for a few days, and I couldn't find any berries or something similar."

"OF COURSE NOT!" the goblin screeched. "YOU WON'T FIND ANYTHING OUT HERE! THE NEW LAND IS EMPTY, DIDN'T YOU KNOW?"

Minako shook her head. "Not really. A few days ago, I didn't even know that it existed."

"Well, it didn't exist a few days ago, simple as that," said a gruff voice coming from the tent's entrance.

Minako saw how Orgrim Doomhammer entered. When he sat down, he almost filled out the whole tent with his massive frame.

"That's why we call it the New Land," he said. "Have you slept well?"

Minako nodded. Doomhammer looked down at the empty tray. "I see Gobbo brought you food. Do you need anything else?"

"A fast horse and a head start of four hours?" she suggested.

The warchief looked down at her in surprise, then he laughed out so loud that the tent started shaking.

"Well, I see you have rested and are fed," Doomhammer said after he calmed down. "Can we talk now?"

"Sure, but... about what?" Minako asked. "I told you everything I know, sir!"

"Then you know next to nothing," Doomhammer shrugged. "But are you really telling the truth? Or are you lying at me? Tell me the truth, you would take any chance to escape, am I not right?"

"I'm not lying!" Minako protested. "And I won't try to flee either. I wouldn't even know where to go."

"Ah, is that why you peered underneath the tent's tarpaulin a short while ago?" Doomhammer asked.

"I... I just wanted... I was just curious..."

"I figured as much," Doomhammer grinned. "So much for your claim of no lying..."

"I wouldn't call that a lie," Minako grumbled. "Just a sneaky trick. That's something you Orcs would know about, right?"

"What are you implying?" Doomhammer asked with a scowl. Minako winced. She knew she shouldn't overdo it, but she just didn't like the way she was treated.

"Well, everyone says you are a sneaky race... I mean, the way you ambushed the Alliance's troops during the battle of the Dark Portal..."

She quickly silenced herself by putting her hands on her mouth. But it was too late. All traces of kindness had disappeared from the warchief's face.

"How do you know about the battle at the Dark Portal?" he asked coldly.

"N-nothing! Only a few things I've heard..."

"Heard? From who?"

"F-from my uncle..." Minako muttered.

"Was he in the battle?" Doomhammer asked.

This time, Minako reacted in time. The only survivors of that battle were Princess Amelia, Gourry Gabriev, Kurdran Wildhammer, Zelgadis Greywords and Lina Inverse. Would she claim to be the relative of one of these guys, she doubted that Doomhammer would show her any mercy.

"No," she said. "But the story about that battle is known throughout the country. Your warriors fought bravely, but in the end..."

"They lost!" Doomhammer snarled. "Oh yes, and it was only because of that traitor Gul'dan... and that demon, Lina Inverse!"

"Wh-what?" Minako asked. "I mean, isn't Lina Inverse a great heroine? At least that's what I heard..."

"Is it a sign of heroism if someone who's invincible goes into battle?"

"I-invincible?" Minako muttered.

"Invincible and immortal," Doomhammer stated. "I don't know what your uncle told you about Inverse, but she is not a hero. The other humans fought us because they had to. But she only fought us because she liked to kill. It amused her!"

Minako was shaken by Doomhammer's statements. True, in the end, this was nothing more than a virtual world with characters that weren't really alive... but it was true that she mainly played the game to have fun. And in a sense, this way of thinking was projected on her character, Lina Inverse.

"Well, back to you..." Doomhammer sighed. "You said you have been with your uncle. Where to? And where did you come from?"

"Well, our city has been destroyed in the war and..."

"Your city? What's it called?"

Minako admonished herself to be more careful. Doomhammer was no fool, and if she said something wrong, it could have dire consequences.

"Shingonia," she finally said. "I don't think you have heard of it before, but..."

"I did," the warchief interrupted her. "Who wouldn't? I didn't know there were any survivors."

"Not too many," Minako said. "Maybe me and my uncle where the only ones. We were hunting in the woods when the Orcs attacked and..."

"Orcs?" Doomhammer asked with a frown. "Did you say: Orcs?"

Minako didn't say anything else. She just nodded.

"Is it that what they told you?" the muscular Orc growled. "That Orcs attacked Shingonia?"

He smacked his fist down on the floor. "That's just like those Alliance cowards... putting the blame on us! Listen, girl, we didn't do anything to that town. Its ruler was just a kid, a kid who was only interested in games! It was worthless to us!"

"But who, if not you...?"

"The demons did it!" Doomhammer yelled, almost as loud as Gobbo. "The same sort of devils as Lina Inverse!"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Minako wondered. "What demons?"

"Those who live in another world," the Orc grumbled. "It was one of them, a dark goddess of evil, and she ravaged Shingonia only because she liked to kill... just like Lina Inverse!"

He sighed and gave Minako a calm nod. "Okay, let's hear the rest of your story."

"There's not much to tell," Minako said, frantically trying to come up with a good way to end her tale. "We fled. My uncle wanted to reach Lordaeron or one of the other nearby kingdoms, so we could ask for asylum. But we... we kinda lost our way..."

"Well, I'd say so," Doomhammer grunted. "Lordaeron lies in the exact opposite direction. You would need a week on foot to reach it. It has been four weeks since Shingonia fell. What did you do in the meantime?"

That was a valuable piece of information for Minako. For her, it was just a couple of days since she had ravaged Shingonia on her father's PC. Obviously, time was flowing differently in this strange, virtual world. Maybe she still had a chance of saving the three technicians before the workers at COMPUTRON pulled the plug, so to speak.

"We hid most of the time," she told Doomhammer. "My uncle is not a brave man. We met a few of your warriors and had to run, and it was then when we got lost. We reached this strange land, where everything looked just like a painted image. The trees weren't real, and we couldn't drink the water..."

"The New Land," Doomhammer nodded. "You must have been deep in its center. What happened then?"

"Well, we almost starved. Tomorrow evening, we saw something. We believed it to be humans, and so we waved. But when the creatures came closer, we realized that they were undead skeleton warriors. My uncle stayed behind to protect me and he told me to run away."

"Yes, I heard undead and other creatures are now roaming the New Land," the warchief nodded. "I guess your uncle was a brave man after all. I suppose he has been killed by the skeletons."

Minako tried hard to make the right impression of a poor, confused girl, whose last remaining relatives had just been killed. She even managed to produce a few fake tears.

"Will... will they come here?" she asked.

"The skeletons?" Doomhammer laughed. "I doubt it. And even if they do, we'd destroy them. We have come here to purge this land from all those creatures and claim it as our own. You know, after that fateful battle at the portal, we were betrayed by two of our clans... only because that foolish warlock had to betray me. He decided to search for the Tomb of some ancient demon lord, and without the added power of his troops, we had no chance against the troops of the Alliance."

'He must be talking about Gul'dan,' Minako realized. "What happened to them?"

"The traitor managed to raise the tomb from the bottom of the sea, but he didn't come back out. We punished his remaining troops for their disobedience, but in the end, we didn't have enough troops left to fight the Alliance. But, with the portal off limits, we had no chance to return back to our home, so now we are searching for a new place for us to stay. As you can see, the New Land is slowly turning into a place where we can live, and if your race leaves us alone, we might just be able to stay here." The warchief then made a fist. "There's only one last thing we have to do. "The strange gods... those devils that came from another world. We have to find out who they are and if we can use their powers for our advantage!"

"The gods? Do you mean... Lina Inverse?"

"No, she has disappeared after that battle at the Dark Portal, but my scouts told me that the Orc clan of the Burning Blade has put up a camp in the New World, where they have imprisoned three of those devilish gods."

"How... how can anyone imprison a god?" Minako murmured. She was now very certain that these 'gods' Doomhammer was talking about were the missing technicians.

"Maybe they aren't gods. Maybe the Burning Blade clan found out their weakness. I plan to find out more. We won't leave them for the Burning Blade. We will eradicate this mob of insane brutes, just as we should have done much earlier. They are just a nuisance, and a danger for the rest of the Horde."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Minako wondered.

"Where would you go with that information?" Doomhammer asked. "Lordaeron is far away, and there are no other humans living in the New World. And you can only leave when I allow you to leave. I shall think about it. We still have two days until we reach the camp of the Burning Blade. If everything turns out fine, we might even bring you back to your people."

"You'd do that?" Minako asked in surprise. From everything she had heard about the Horde, this offer almost seemed to be too gracious.

"We don't keep young girls as you as a prisoner. Let's see how the battle will end," Doomhammer shrugged as he stood up - and nearly made the whole tent collapse. "If we win, we'll send you back."

"And... if not?" Minako asked.

The warchief grinned widely. "There are only two possibilities. Either we defeat the Burning Blade clan, or they defeat us. You wanna know what they do to their prisoners?"

And with a booming laugh, he left the tent.

Although she was still watched by the suspicious eyes of Gobbo, Minako considered what she should do next. She most certainly didn't want to wait and see if Doomhammer managed to defeat the Burning Blade Orcs. But escaping from the camp was out of the question as well.

So there was only one possibility: She had to escape during the day, while they were on their way.

And if they decided to stop her, well... They didn't know about her Senshi powers, right? And besides, she still could make use of her Cheat Codes.

* * *

About half an hour after the warchief left, the Orcs started to tear down their camp, ready to move on. Once again, Minako had to help.

Later, he led her past the wolf mounts of the Orc riders to a small corral with horses.

"WE CAUGHT THEM FROM HUMANS!" Gobbo explained when she looked at him questioningly. "WE TURNED MOST OF THEM INTO MEAT RATIONS, BUT THE WARCHIEF THOUGHT YOU MIGHT PREFER ONE OF THOSE TO A WOLF."

Minako's stomach made a jumping motion. "Are you telling me... the meat you gave me yesterday... that was horse meat?"

"WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?" Gobbo yelled. "I'M NOT A BARBARIAN! DOOMHAMMER TOLD ME TO TREAT YOU WELL. I ONLY GAVE YOU THE BEST!"

"Oh, good!" Her stomach calmed down a bit. "What was it, then?"

"SANDWORM!" the goblin screamed.

Minako's stomach almost jumped up to her throat, threatening to release its contents. "W-w-worm?" she uttered.

"OF COURSE!" Gobbo licked his lips. "YOU HAVE TO BURY QUITE A WHILE UNTIL YOU FIND THEM, AND THEN YOU HAVE TO SCRAPE OFF ALL THAT SLIME, BUT THEY ARE DELICIOUS!"

Somehow Minako managed to keep her breakfast to herself, but she decided not to ask Gobbo any unneeded questions anymore. With a pale face, she mounted the small horse that the goblin showed her. Afterwards, he jumped into the saddle of an even bigger horse and grabbed the reigns.

Minako refrained from telling him how ridiculous he looked sitting up there.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"DEEPER INTO THE NEW LAND!" Gobbo screeched. "THE BURNING BLADE'S CAMP LIES DEEP WITHIN THE MOUNTAINS! THEY WERE THE FIRST ONES TO COME HERE!"

They started riding, following the rest of the small army. Minako couldn't see Doomhammer anywhere, but she knew that as the warchief of the Horde, he wouldn't have the time to take care of her all the time. He would most likely ride in front of his forces.

They rode through the bleak landscape for almost three hours, and after some time, Minako lost count of how many they had been on their way. Surrounded by all kinds of Horde creatures, she wasn't exactly in good spirits.

While they were riding through the New Land, the strange shadows passed their heads several times, and each time, the scenario changed a bit. After a while, the New Land lost its extreme strangeness and looked almost normal.

But the strangest thing was that the mountains they were heading to didn't change at all. They were still looking like an out-of-date computer graphic, and even stranger was the fact that they didn't seem to come any closer, even though they were riding towards the mountain range all the time.

The mountains were moving away from them. If Minako needed some other proof that the world of Azeroth was growing, this was it. And if those mountains were its border, they would never reach them this way.

Minako sighed and shook her head. No, she wouldn't stay with Doomhammer and his remaining Orc troops. For a while, she had been hoping that this was a good chance for her to save the technicians while the Burning Blades were fighting with Doomhammer's troops, but this seemed to be out of the question now.

"Gobbo," she suddenly said to the goblin, who was still riding next to her.

"WHAT IS IT?" he replied with a yell.

"I'm afraid you were right," she said.

"OF COURSE I WAS!" he shouted. Shortly after he added: "WITH WHAT?"

"I can't stay with you guys," she said with a shrug. "I'm afraid I have to go now. But don't worry: I won't tell anyone I met you here."

Gobbo looked at her in surprise, then he yelled at the top of his lungs. Even Minako, who was prepared for the worst, winced painfully and pressed her hands on her ears.

"WAAAAAAARCHIIIEEEEEEFF! SHE'S GONNA FLEE, SHE SAID IT HERSELF!"

An enormous wolf suddenly came next to Minako's horse and Doomhammer looked down at her with an angry frown. "I know," he said. "I'm just surprised that she admits it. Don't be a fool, girl! You can't escape from us!"

"I beg to differ," Minako said with a smug smile. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go now."

"We really don't have any time for this!" the warchief snapped angrily. "Stop fooling around and do what Gobbo tells you, or I'll have to drag you behind your horse."

"I don't think I would like that," Minako replied... and then, all of a sudden, she spurred on her horse, yanked it around with her reigns and started gallopping across the plains, into the opposite direction of where the Horde was heading.

The horse was going very fast. Obviously, it had been terrified by the presence of the Orcs and Wolves, and it only needed this motivation to run away.

But as she looked behind her, she saw that Doomhammer already caught up with her. The giant wolf he was riding on seemed to be the fastest of the entire Horde.

"Stop, girl!" he shouted. "I'll take you back by force if I have to!"

"Stay back!" Minako shouted back. "I don't wanna hurt you!"

She meant it. Ever since she met Doomhammer, Gobbo and the rest of the Horde, they seemed to be more alive than any character of the game had ever been before. And the fact that she was here in her own body was enough to convince her that if she killed an enemy in this world, it she was indeed taking a life. And that was something she had sworn herself to never do after helping Sailor Moon defeat Queen Beryl.

Doomhammer only seemed angered by her statement, as he leaned over the neck of his mount even further, as he slowly approached her.

His wolf's jaws snapped at the flanks of Minako's horse, and in terror, it reared up in mid-run and threw Minako off its back, causing her to fly through the air.

"It is a good day to die!!" she shouted shortly before she hit the ground. She was pretty much convinced that her Cheat would protect her from the biggest harm.

But then, an explosion of pain shot through her body, as she landed on the rough surface of the ground. It hurt so much that she lost consciousness.

But before she did, she realized in her mind that Azeroth had changed more than she was aware of. Her CHEATS didn't work anymore.

And that meant that she could die in here just like any other character.


	7. Lina's pet girl

The warchief kept his promise. When Minako awoke, she found herself being dragged behind by her own horse. Her feet were bound with a rope which was attached to the horse's saddle. She was lucky that the Orcs seemed merciful enough to put her on a plaited mat made of straw, but she could still feel every bump underneath... and the area they were riding through wasn't exactly the most even one.

She groaned as she tried sitting up, failing miserably. Her movement got the attention of someone who was riding nearby, and when she looked up, she looked right into the grinning face of Gobbo the goblin.

"AH, SO OUR LITTLE HERO HAS AWAKENED!" he shouted. "YOU'RE LUCKY YOU'RE STILL ALIVE, GIRL! HAD THE WARCHIEF NOT RESTRAINED ME, I WOULD HAVE TORN YOU APART!"

Minako really wasn't in the mood to listen to the absurd prattling of the goblin. She grimaced in pain as she managed to get into a sitting position on her mat, but she wasn't able to remove the bindings on her feet... or her arms.

"Untie me," she murmured. "Please."

"SO YOU CAN RUN AWAY AGAIN?" Gobbo shouted while shaking his head. "I DON'T THINK SO!"

"But I... I couldn't know it wouldn't work..." she muttered.

"THAT WHAT WOULDN'T WORK? YOUR BRAINS?"

"Well, that too," she grumbled. She wanted to kick herself.

Still she asked him again: "Please untie me! I promise I won't do that again!"

"That promise didn't keep you from breaking it last time," a gruff voice spoke up next to her. When she turned around, she saw that Doomhammer was once again riding next to her.

"Yes, but I mean it this time," Minako winced. "If you wanna kill me, do it, but this is inhuman!"

"Well, we are no humans," Doomhammer said with amusement. "Well, okay... you may mount your horse."

"Huh?" Minako thought she misheard. "Are you serious?"

"I believe you have learned your lesson," the warchief stated. "And we already wasted enough time on you. But if you try to escape again, I'll feed you to the wolves! Now, get up!"

Minako was hoping that he or Gobbo would help her, but Doomhammer's graciousness only went so far. He allowed her to ride on her horse again, but she had to get up there by herself.

Finally, after a time that seemed to her like eternity, she managed to slip out of her handcuffs and pulled her aching body forwards to remove the rope that was binding her to the horse. With a groan, she stood up to her wobbly feet. She still had to run after her horse, as the warchief made no attempt to stop his men or the horse itself.

When she was once again sitting in her saddle, she looked over to where Doomhammer was riding and whispered: "Thank you..."

"I didn't do it because of you, but only because we have to hurry." He turned to face Gobbo. "You, as well as twenty Grunts and Trolls, you will stay with her. We are too slow. You'll rejoin with us at the camp, tonight."

Gobbo wanted to protest, but quickly saw that the warchief's mind was made up.

"It's better this way," Doomhammer added. "You can stay back and keep an eye open for pursuers."

"YES, WARCHIEF!" Gobbo said meekly, but nonetheless in his usual, deafening loudness.

Doomhammer gave Minako an additional, warning look and then rode ahead of them, shouting orders to his men. Shortly after, the biggest part of the small army was riding ahead, leaving only a few dozens of bodyguards around Minako and Gobbo.

They stayed silent for a while, and Minako just sat on her horse, trying to regain her strength. Her body was hurting all over.

"SAY..." the goblin then spoke up again. "THOSE STRANGE WORDS YOU SHOUTED BEFORE YOU FELL DOWN, WHAT WERE THEY SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

"What are you talking about?" Minako muttered.

"IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!!" Gobbo yelled. "WAS YOUR ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE JUST AN ATTEMPTED SUICIDE, OR WAS IT SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING?"

"It's nothing," Minako said hastily. "Just nonsense!"

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! NO ONE SPEAKS NONSENSE WHEN HE'S ABOUT TO DIE! IT WAS A MAGICAL SPELL, WAS IT?"

Minako was so surprised that she forgot her aching body and stared at the goblin. "Why do you think that?" she asked. "If I were able to do magic, I wouldn't still be here, right?"

"ONLY IF YOUR MAGIC STILL WORKS, RIGHT?" Gobbo screamed. "IT DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE, RIGHT?"

Minako was so surprised by his correct assumption that she automatically nodded.

Curiously, Gobbo didn't even seem gleeful or even relieved after hearing that, but worried. "I THOUGHT SO," he shouted.

"But how did you get that idea?" Minako wondered.

Gobbo looked at her with a conspiratorial look in his eyes, looked around and gave her a gesture to come closer. In confusion, Minako leaned forwards until she was directly in front of his mouth, intent on hearing whatever he was going to whisper in her ear.

Gobbo leaned even closer to her and put his hand next to his mouth, as if he was going to say something that nobody else was supposed to hear.

And then he screamed right into her ear: "I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU, BUT WE HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM!"

Minako yelped in surprise, put her hand on her ear and grimaced. "Are you crazy?" she gasped. "You wanna make me deaf?"

She shook her head and then asked him: "What do you mean, you have the same problem?"

"NOT SO LOUD!" the goblin screamed and waved his arms around frantically. "DOOMHAMMER WILL ROAST ME ALIVE IF HE LEARNS THAT I TOLD YOU!"

"What?" Instinctively, Minako lowered her voice to a whisper.

"OUR MAGIC ISN'T WORKING ANYMORE! OR AT LEAST NOT COMPLETELY! THEY SAY THAT EVEN OUR MOST POWERFUL WARLOCKS... THOSE WHO DIDN'T FOLLOW GUL'DAN, THAT IS... AREN'T ABLE TO USE THEIR FORMIDABLE SPELLS ANYMORE! AND FROM WHAT I HEARD, IT'S THE SAME WITH THE HUMAN MAGES. DIDN'T YOU KNOW?"

Minako didn't know. Gobbos words surprised him. But somehow, these news were fitting in regard to everything else what happened to Azeroth. The world seemed to turn more and more... real. And maybe COMPUTRON's main processor had decided that magic is an unnatural phenomenon and isn't allowed to work.

"WELL, TOO BAD!" Gobbo sighed with a scream. "I WAS HOPING YOU COULD EXPLAIN IT TO ME."

"Why me?" Minako asked him.

The goblin snorted. "BECAUSE SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT WITH YOU, GIRL! DON'T YOU TRY AND DENY IT! YOU'RE NOT A NORMAL GIRL, I CAN TELL!"

"Even if you were right, I wouldn't tell you the truth," Minako huffed. "But what's so special about me?"

"YOU ARE..." Gobbo stopped in mid-sentence, then his ears suddenly perked up and he looked around in surprise.

"LOOK OUT!" he shouted.

The remaining Orcs and Trolls shouted in alarm when suddenly, the sky was darkened by the wings of a dozen of gryphons that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

One of the giant creatures swooped down on Gobbo, and he only was able to escape from the sharp claws because Minako pushed him out of his saddle. The gryphon let out a disappointed screech and searched for another opponent.

While the battle was raging around them, Gobbo recovered and stood up from the ground, glaring at Minako fiercely. "I KNOW YOU COULDN'T BE TRUSTED! THIS IS YOUR DOING SOMEHOW, RIGHT? YOU AND YOUR SO-CALLED 'PROMISES'... TRAITOR!" And he angrily punched against her leg.

"Now I've just had enough of you..." Minako grumbled and gave the goblin a slap in the face. Gobbo got thrown backwards by the force and fell down on his back. With a shocked look on his face, he stayed there.

Minako saw how the Orcs and Trolls were trying to fight the gryphons off, but the winged animals were much stronger and faster than them. And they were not the only opponents the Horde members had to be aware off... suddenly, several small, armored shapes came jumping down from the gryphons' backs. The dwarven warriors wasted no time and attacked the Orcs with their swords and axes.

And then Minako saw the biggest gryphon she had ever seen coming down from the skies, and when its rider came down from its back, she recognized his face.

"Kurdran!" she shouted in surprise. "Kurdran Wildhammer!"

The dwarf looked around in confusion, then he looked at Minako and his eyes went wide in alarm.

"Girl! Duck!" he shouted. Minako replied without asking, and then, an enormous axe came flying through the air, just in the place where her head had been just seconds ago.

But the danger wasn't over yet. The troll which had attacked her, pulled another axe from his belt and tried chopping down on her legs. Minako pulled her legs back in surprise, getting ready to blast the attacker with a Crescent Beam... when suddenly, Kurdran came jumping over her body, attacking the troll fiercely.

The troll warrior didn't seem to impressed. Maybe he thought he would have it easy with such a small opponent.

He wasn't the first one to find out just how big a mistake it was to judge Kurdran Wildhammer after his SIZE.

When the Troll's body fell down under Kurdran's hammer, the dwarf looked over to Minako was standing. "Are you hurt, girl?" he asked in a worried tone of voice.

She nodded. "No, just a bit shaken. Thank you, you saved my..."

"Stay here!" Kurdran mumbled. "Don't try anything foolish until we beat them." And then he went to help his fellow dwarves.

Gobbo, who got completely ignored by the dwarf (possibly because his skin was the same tone as the grass below him) continued his ranting: "I KNEW YOU'D BETRAY US! I WON'T BELIEVE YOU ANYTHING ANYMORE! YOU WON'T GET AWAY FROM ME, SO DON'T EVEN TRY!"

"Gobbo, stop that nonsense and flee already," Sailor Venus groaned. "They're gonna kill you!"

"AND LEAVE YOU BEHIND?" the goblin yelled. "NOT IN YOUR LIFE!"

Minako rolled her eyes. "I'm serious, Gobbo! If Kurdran gets a hold of you... he hates the Horde with all his heart." And then she shouted as loud as she could: "DAMN IT, GET OUT OF HERE ALREADY!"

Gobbo stared at her, and in this moment he seemed to understand that this was no trick - Minako was really worried about his safety. She couldn't explain it, but somehow, she got to like the crazy little guy.

Gobbo turned around to flee, but then Minako saw a movement in the corner of her eyes. An armored dwarf approached the fleeing goblin, swinging an impressive axe in his hands. And even though Gobbo was a pretty fast runner, Minako knew he wouldn't make it in time.

Without thinking about the consequences of her actions, she called out "VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"

The golden chain of hearts wrapped itself around the surprised dwarf's legs, and threw him down to the ground, allowing Gobbo to flee.

The dwarf growled angrily, grabbed the magical chain that was around his legs and gave it a firm pull. Minako stumbled forwards in surprise and fell down to the ground as well... and when she looked up, she looked right at the sharp edge of a shining axe that was in front of her face.

"Don't move!" the dwarf said threateningly. "Make one wrong movement and I'll chop you down!"

Minako realized that this wasn't just a mere threat, so she obeyed nervously. She could see the anger in the dwarven warrior's eyes. She could understand him somehow... by helping a member of the Horde, he believed her to be a traitor to the Alliance.

The battle was over. The last Orc fell to the claws of a gryphon, and most of the dwarves were already sheathing their weapons.

Kurdran and another dwarf approached them. When he saw Minako lying on the ground, he got angry and said something in his dwarven tongue to the warrior who pinned her down.

The dwarf replied in their language, then gestured at Minako and continued in the Common Language. "We can't trust this girl. She is some sort of sorceress who is in league with the Horde. We should leave her here, alongside her green little friends!"

"What do you mean?" Kurdran wondered. He looked down at Minako. "Did we meet before? You seem familiar..."

"Maybe on the battlefield," the dwarf that threatened Minako grumbled. "On the Orc's side!"

"I'm not a member of the Horde," Minako protested. "But I had to stop him... he wanted to kill Gobbo!"

"That goblin?" Kurdran wondered. "Why?"

"He's completely harmless," Minako insisted. "Believe me, Kurdran... he wouldn't hurt anyone."

"No member of the Horde is harmless," Kurdran said with resoluteness. "And besides, who allowed you to call me by my first name? Do you have an idea who I am, girl?"

Minako winced. "I'm sorry, sir... I just heard your name during the battle and..."

"Enough!" Kurdran interrupted her. "We'll talk about that later. We have to leave. The greenskins will be back soon. We can't take them all on."

"There are nearly three hundreds of them," Minako said. "At least!"

"Even more of a reason why we should leave quickly," Kurdran said grimly. He grabbed her and pulled her to her feet, and not too gentle at that.

"I hope you are not afraid of heights, girl!"

* * *

They needed about half an hour to reach their destination, but regarding the enormous velocity Sky'ree and the other gryphons reached, they must have traveled a very long distance.

Minako looked down from the gryphon's back and could only see empty plains, hills and a few rocks and small groups of trees, but no settlements of any kind. They were still in the new parts of Azeroth.

The gryphons were approaching a small river. Behind it, Minako could see a big amount of tents, all of them carrying the emblem of Lordaeron and Azeroth. Minako saw at least hundreds of horses, most of them with a heavy coat of armor on their backs, and in a separated part of the camp, she could see another thirty or forty gryphons. It was a small army that was camping out here, and Minako started to wonder why they were here... have they heard from the imprisoned 'gods' as well?

Sky'ree, along with the other gryphons, landed next to the camp. As soon as they touched solid ground, Kurdran gave her a firm shove which sent her stumbling down to the ground.

"Hey!" she protested. "What's the big idea..."

Kurdran jumped down to her, pulled her to her feet and glared at her. "Talk to me that way again and I'll put you in chains! I'm treating you like I would any Orc-friend."

"But I'm not an Orc-friend," she protested. "I'm..."

"What is going on here?" a voice called up behind them.

Minako turned around and recognized a good old friend. "Amelia," she said with relief. "Am I glad to see you! Tell that stupid dwarf that I'm not..."

When she saw the princess' confused face, Minako suddenly realized that she couldn't possibly recognize her.

"Do I know you?" Amelia asked in confusion.

Kurdran pushed her down to her knees. "You are talking to the crown princess of Azeroth! Show some respect, girl!"

"Cut that out, Kurdran!" Amelia commanded. "What is going on? Who is that girl?"

"One of my men discovered her while he was scouting the area. He saw how the Orcs were tormenting her. They had tied her behind a horse and let it pull her across the ground. But maybe it was just a trick..."

"A trick?" Amelia wondered.

The dwarf nodded. "Aye! Because when we arrived to save her, she was sitting on her horse, chatting cheerfully with a goblin. And that's not all: She wanted to save the goblin's life!"

"Is that true?" Amelia asked Minako.

Minako didn't know how to reply. She just realized that the attack on the small Horde group was only because of her... it was supposed to be a rescue mission.

"I asked you a question," Amelia said. Minako winced. She knew that the princess was a sweet and excitable girl, but in times like this it was made clear that she was the crown princess of her people.

"It is true," she finally said. "I saved Gobbo's life."

"But you aren't a member of the Horde?"

"Of course not!" the Senshi of Venus protested.

"So why are you still alive? No one survives the Orcs' torture."

"It wasn't supposed to be a torture," Minako tried to explain. "Doomhammer just wanted to teach me a lesson..."

"Doomhammer?" Amelia gasped. "You mean Orgrim Doomhammer, the leading warchief of the Horde?"

"Doomhammer is HERE?" Kurdran murmured.

"Yes," Minako nodded.

"But how do you know that?" the dwarf asked her suspiciously.

"Because he..." She almost said 'Because I recognized him', but that was out of the question. No human met the warchief of the Horde and lived long enough to REMEMBER him.

"Well, the... the other Orcs called him that," she quickly said. "Why? Who is this Doomhammer?"

"Well, something is definitely not right with that girl," Amelia sighed. "Maybe you should bring her to my tent... I'll get the others."

Kurdran nodded grimly and gave Minako another shove. "Go on, girl! he commanded.

Minako grimaced, but obeyed for now. Somehow her situation didn't really improve since she got away from the Orcs...

Kurdran brought her into the big, personal tent of Amelia. It wasn't as extravagant as Minako had believed, she only saw a few sitting cushions, a big, wooden chest and a makeshift bed.

Minako automatically wanted to sit down on one of the cushions, but Kurdran pushed her down on her knees. He then pulled out his axe and guarded her until Amelia came back.

She came back in the company of three men... and Minako had to restrain herself from jumping to her feet in relief when she recognized them. They were Lord Khadgar, Gourry Gabriev and... Zelgadis Greywords.

Zelgadis seemed as surprised as she was to meet her here, as he was hesitating when he entered the tent.

"I see you know the girl, Zelgadis?" Amelia asked him.

The chimera shook his head. "No, she... looks familiar. But I can't quite put her face..."

'Thank you, Ami!' Minako rumbled mentally. 'How very nice of you! Don't forget to remind me to talk to you after all of this is over!'

"Well, I was hoping you could finally solve this mystery," Amelia sighed. "She seems familiar to me as well, but..."

"Wait a minute..." Zelgadis then said and approached Minako. "Somehow..."

He reached for Minako's chin and lifted it up so he could have a closer look at her face.

"I'm so gonna kick your butt once we're back, Ami," Minako hissed, but in a way that only Zelgadis was able to hear her. "I swear it, I'm gonna sic Artemis on you!"

"What did she say?" Gourry asked.

Zelgadis grinned. "Nothing," he said and patted Minako's head. "I couldn't understand her. She must have trouble speaking."

"Well, she sure doesn't have those problems when speaking to Orcs..." Kurdran muttered.

"Wait!" Zelgadis said. "Now I remember!"

"What do you mean?" Gourry asked in surprise.

Zelgadis gestured at Minako. "I remember where I met her."

Minako looked at the chimera in confusion. She was hoping Ami was having a good idea now, or else their cover was blown.

"I saw her in Lina's company," Zelgadis explained.

"You saw her with INVERSE?" Kurdran grumbled. His voice sounded very doubtful, and Khadgar was shaking his head as well.

"Yes, I remember her. It was just once, when Lina and I have been travelling by ourselves for a while. You know, shortly after Gourry joined the Paladins...?"

"Why would Lina Inverse have such a girl with her?" Khadgar asked.

"She was her apprentice," Zelgadis explained. "She wasn't very good at it, and I asked Lina once why she was still bothering with her. But Lina just smiled and said everyone would need a pet."

Minako glared at Zel. True, that cover story was a good idea... still, did Ami have to picture her as a complete idiot?

"Why didn't you ever tell us about her?" Amelia asked with indignation.

Zelgadis shrugged. "You never asked..."

"Well, if we take into consideration who Lina Inverse really was..." the Archmage murmured.

"In any case, I know we can trust her," Zelgadis stated. "The girl is too big of a coward to lie to us."

Minako noticed how much her friend was enjoying this, but she still nodded hastily when Kurdran Wildhammer gave her a suspicious glare.

"Very well," Khadgar sighed. "I don't like this, but if Sir Greywords says he trusts you, so shall I."

"Well, not me," Kurdran grumbled. "It still doesn't explain why she attacked one of my men."

"Well, he... he wanted to kill Gobbo, and I couldn't let that happen."

"Gobbo?" Amelia asked.

"He means a goblin!" Kurdran said with disdain. "A goblin of the HORDE!"

"But why did you do that?" Gourry wanted to know.

"Because I gave him my promise," Minako replied. It was a small lie, but it was the best answer she could come up with.

"You PROMISED him?" Kurdran asked. "A member of the HORDE?"

"Enough, Wildhammer!" Khadgar reproved. "If she gave the goblin a promise, she had to keep it."

"Yes! A promise is a promise!" the dwarf huffed. "But you don't give it to a GOBLIN!"

"Enough of that!" Amelia intervened. "I thought we wanted to hear her tale."

"Yes, let us hear what you have to tell us," Khadgar nodded. "Say, girl..."

"Minako!"

"Minako..." He smiled. "You promised the goblin to help him. Will you now promise me to tell me the truth?"

"I will," Minako nodded, although she felt a bit nervous. "I swear it!" Once again, she hoped the Archmage wouldn't see the crossed fingers behind her back.

"Well then, explain! How did you get here and why were you with the Horde?"

Minako explained. She basically told him the same story she had told Doomhammer. She gave Zelgadis a short glance to see how he would react to the story. But he didn't move a bit.

"And that's all?" Amelia asked when she reached the part where Kurdran and the other dwarves saved her.

"All?" Minako blurted out. "I thought I was done for. Who knows what those Orcs were going to do to me. If the dwarves didn't arrive to get me out of there..."

"Those are bad news," Gourry spoke up. "I thought we had to deal with just a few Orcs, and now there are three hundred of them."

"Perhaps even more," Minako said. "I heard that they expect to meet up with even more warriors."

"That might be true," Kurdran nodded grimly. "My scouts told me about a big amount of Horde troops near the border."

"But why?" Amelia wondered. "What could be interesting for the Orcs to come here?"

"The Burning Blade clan," Minako said. "They have a camp in the mountains. I heard how Doomhammer said to another Orc how they were going to attack it."

"I wonder what's so important to Doomhammer that he's bothering with those guys," Gourry shook his head. "I mean, they are not much more than brutish thugs."

"Did Doomhammer say anything about this?" Amelia asked Minako. "Please, Miss Minako... did you hear anything?"

"Yes," Minako nodded. "But that was nonsense."

"Why?" Zelgadis asked.

Minako looked right into Zelgadis' face when she answered: "They said the Burning Blade clan had imprisoned three GODS. Isn't that silly? I mean, whoever has heard of GODS you could just imprison like that?"

Amelia's face went pale, and Minako heard how Khadgar inhaled sharply. "Gods?" he asked. "Did they really use that word?"

Minako didn't reply right away. She still was looking into Zelgadis' face, until the chimera gave her the hint of a nod.

"I'm sure of it," Minako said to Khadgar. "He also said those gods had come from another world, and that they only visit our world for fun. That they let our people fight each other for their amusement. Doesn't that sound strange?"

Khadgar sighed. "Don't you worry about that, young Minako! There exist certain things that human won't even understand after they have become old and wise..."

His mind seemed to be in turmoil. "Your Highness, I suggest we send a few scouts to see if her words are the truth."

"Yes, I agree," Amelia nodded, although she gave Minako an apologetic smile. Minako was amazed. Was that serious girl really the Amelia she knew when she came here as Lina Inverse? What happened to the carefree girl who always fell down to her face? She had turned into an efficient leader. Her father must have taught her well...

"I will go by myself," Kurdran spoke up. "I will send my best men to spy on Doomhammer's army, and Sky'ree and I will fly to the mountains. I have to see for myself if that dubious camp of the Burning Blade clan really exists."

"And what shall we do with her?" Gourry asked.

"Why don't you leave her to me?" Zelgadis asked and stepped forth. "I know how to handle her all to well..."

* * *

Later that day, Minako did not only clean Zelgadis' tent and polish his weapons, but she also had devised a plan how she could pay Ami all of this back when they returned back home.

After a couple of hours, Zelgadis entered the tent himself. "I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier," he apologized. "Amelia wouldn't let me go." He sat down. "Now we can talk freely. No one will hear us in here."

"Well, what a relief!" Minako grumbled. "This way, no one will be able to hear what I'm going to yell at you as soon as I regain my breath, Ami!"

"Don't call me that!" Zelgadis frowned. "I'm Zelgadis Greywords here!"

His posture softened when he saw the angry look in Minako's face. "Please don't think bad of me," he pleaded, which sounded strange, coming from the golem-demon-chimera. "But we'll never know who will listen, and the situation is complicated enough as it is. You really aren't hurt?"

"Only my pride..." Minako grumbled. "What was that all about? Why did you picture me as a complete idiot?"

"What was I supposed to say?" Zelgadis asked. "That you are Lina Inverse, just in the wrong body? You really should play your part. Kurdran isn't a fool, and he's already quite suspicious. And to underestimate Khadgar could be even more fatal. What went wrong anyway? Why didn't you come here as Lina Inverse?"

"Because I had to blast a certain chimera into pieces to save my face," Minako replied with a scowl. She then shrugged. "By the way, you know I have deleted Lina since my last visit in Azeroth. I tried creating a new character, but something went wrong, and now I'm stuck in my normal body. But that's not the worst part of it."

She sighed and gave Zelgadis a regretful look. "My Cheats don't work anymore."

"Yes, I know," Zelgadis replied.

"And that means..." Minako stopped in mid-sentence. "What... what do you mean, you know?"

Zelgadis grimaced and said in a small voice: "They can't work anymore."

"WHY?" Minako asked. She had a slight suspicion, but she hoped she was wrong.

"I deleted them," Zelgadis sighed.

Minako stared at her friend in disbelief. "You're kidding! Please tell me you're kidding!"

"It's true," Zelgadis replied. "After the game session with the Dark Portal, I sat at my computer and deleted all Cheat Codes you put into the game."

"But... but why?" Minako asked.

Zelgadis shrugged. "I didn't know how things would turn out. Besides, you know that I don't like cheats. They take all the fun out of the game."

"I don't believe it!" Minako gasped and grabbed her head. "Are you telling me you deleted every single Cheat and Code I used?"

"Every single one," Zelgadis nodded.

"Okay, Ami... I admit you're be better with the computer than me. But you aren't necessarily smarter than me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zelgadis asked with a pout. It was kinda cute to see him like this. But Minako wasn't in the mood right now.

"You also deleted the emergency codes for a quit exit," Minako explained. "You know what that means? Normally, if I wanted to leave the game quickly without having to use the game menu, I just entered that code."

Zelgadis gasped as he realized what his friend meant. "You mean... we are stuck in here?"

"Yes," Minako nodded grimly. "Just like those technicians!"


	8. A loud prisoner

They kept on talking for some time and would have talked on, if not for the sudden arrival of a messenger in their tent who told them that Archmage Khadgar wanted to talk to them.

As soon as they entered Khadgar's tent, Zelgadis fell back into his role as the silent, if sometimes gruff, chimera hero of the Alliance, and Minako - even if reluctantly - into her role of the clumsy apprentice of Lina Inverse.

Gourry wasn't with them this time, as he was receiving orders from his superiors, but Amelia and Kurdran were present, the latter looking at Minako with a steely glare.

Again Minako wondered where Amelia's father might be. He was usually present in all military actions of such a degree, but she had no chance of seeing him ever since she arrived at the camp.

"What happened?" Amelia asked. She had arrived only shortly before Zelgadis and Minako. "You seem to be worried, Lord Khadgar."

"Rightfully so, my princess," the Archmage said grimly. He gestured at Minako. "It seems the girl told us the truth. Kurdran has returned, and from what he told us, everything Minako said was right."

"Well, did you have any doubts?" Minako asked in a huff.

"You only talk if you are told to," Kurdran snapped. "How often do we have to tell you, girl?"

"Leave her be, Kurdran," Khadgar sighed. "He is right. And I don't think it's her fault that she didn't learn much about respect. When I listen to her, it's almost as if Lina Inverse was talking."

"Well, they did spend much time together," Zelgadis was quick to say. "So, what did you discover? Did you find the camp? Is it really the Burning Blade Clan?"

"Yes, and how things seem, I would say all of them," Kurdran said with a scowl.

"What do you mean, all of them?" Amelia asked.

"Do you remember our last discussion about them, Your Highness?" Kurdran asked. "You were wondering why we never could find a single trace of the clan. We were able to hunt down various, scattered members of all the other Orc clans we know about, the Blackrock Clan, the Grinning Tooth Clan, the Bleeding Hollow Clan... But not a single Burning Blade Orc." He sighed. "Now we know where they are. They are all gathered there in the mountains, the whole clan. Five hundred warriors, I might guess. I couldn't get close enough to count. Those damn Orcs brought at least two dozens of dragons with them, and my brave Sky'ree could never take on that many at once."

"And the prisoners?" Minako asked.

Kurdran shrugged. "As I said, I couldn't get close enough to see any details, but I saw some kind of... tower."

"A KIND of tower?" Khadgar asked.

Kurdran shrugged once more. He seemed to be quite agitated for some reason. "I wasn't able to see it clearly. It looked very strange. Just like everything within that new land. It seems... unfinished."

A very thoughtful look appeared on Khadgar's face. He looked at Kurdran, then watched Minako with a very unnerving expression. Nervously, she looked down at the ground.

"Whatever is in this tower, they are guarding it closely," Kurdran continued. "Whatever may be in there, it must be of great value for them."

"Or very dangerous..." Zelgadis murmured. He seemed convinced. "It must be them. Why else would the Burning Blade Orcs come here? There's nothing to find out here."

"How would you know?" Amelia asked. "Have you already been here?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "No. But she was!" He nodded towards Minako. "What she told us about the New Land is identical with what Kurdrans scouts have seen."

"But she didn't see what was behind the mountains..." Kurdran murmured. He shivered. "And by King Magni's beard, I wish I wouldn't have either..."

"Whatever could be so terrible?" Minako asked mockingly. "I thought dwarves were fearless."

Strangely, Kurdran didn't even react to that insult. He still was very pale as he whispered: "Maybe that was what I have seen... nothing!"

"How could you have seen nothing, Mr. Wildhammer?" Amelia asked and scratched her head. "I thought you were scouting the area..."

"I don't know how to explain it, princess," Kurdran said quietly. "I didn't tell you everything. After the dragons attacked me and Sky'ree, we had to flee into the mountains to shake them. You know how easy those scatter-brained reptiles are tricked. But when I came close to the other side of the mountains, I could see what was lying behind them. Something is there! Something... something that felt as if we all were made of it, see? Good and Evil, Light and Darkness! I'm sorry, but I can't describe it otherwise..."

"Maybe you saw creation itself..." Khadgar murmured with awe.

"If that is true, than it is much different from how we are imagining it," Kurdran said.

Everyone within the tent seemed awestruck. Zelgadis coughed. "Well, but this isn't why we are here, right?" he reminded the others.

"Yes... yes, you are right, Sir Greywords," Khadgar muttered. He seemed to gather himself. "From what the scouts told us about Doomhammer's troops, they are approaching the camp from various directions. An enormous army... and I don't want to figure what would happen if they join up with the Burning Blades."

"I don't think that's going to happen," Zelgadis said. "Doomhammer said it himself, he doesn't want to take any risks by letting these brutish Orcs live. And he most likely will want to have those 'gods' for himself."

"Which means a big battle will be happening," Kurdran said grimly. "So much the better: Let them bash each other's heads out, and we'll take care of the tired victors."

"Somehow, we have to get those three strangers out of that camp," Amelia decided. "Before the battle occurs. If they get hurt during the fight, our efforts will have been in vain."

"And how do you plan to do that, princess?" Kurdran asked. "We don't have enough men to fight both the Burning Blade Clan AND Doomhammer's army."

Suddenly, an attractive, elven women who was dressed in a ranger's garb entered the tent. She saluted and said: "Excuse me, Princess, but... I believe we captured a spy."

"A spy?" Khadgar asked. "Who is it, Alleria?"

"A goblin," the elven woman replied. "I think... He seems... strange."

"Then drown him in the river," Kurdran grumbled. "Or wait, I'll do it myself!"

"Now wait a minute, Kurdran!" Amelia protested. "A captured spy would be of more use than a dead one, right?" She looked at Khadgar, who nodded.

Amelia looked back at the elf. "Bring him in!"

Alleria Windrunner, Elven Ranger General of Quel'Thalas, saluted again. "Right away, princess!"

Shortly afterwards, she returned. Two of her elven rangers were accompanying her, dragging the bound prisoner after them. Minako wasn't too surprised when she recognized him.

"Why is he gagged?" Amelia frowned. "That's no way to treat a prisoner, goblin or not! Take it out!"

Alleria hesitated. "Princess, I believe..."

"Now, or I'll do it myself!" Amelia commanded.

"Excuse me, Ame... um, I mean, princess," Minako spoke up. "But I think it's better if we don't..."

It was too late. Alleria had reached down to the goblin's gag and removed it. He spat the piece of cloth to the ground, and the next second, the tent shook under his yelling voice:

"YOU DIRTY SCUM! NO ONE TREATS GOBBO THE TERRIBLE LIKE THAT! WHY, IF MY HANDS WERE UNBOUND, I WOULD TEAR YOU APART, ALL OF YOU!"

Amelia paled and took a step backwards. Kurdran winced and pressed his hands on his ears. Alleria quickly knelt down, picked up the gag and put it back into Gobbo's mouth.

It went silent again.

Khadgar cleared his throat. "Well, it seems you can speak our language. When I remove the gag, do you promise not to yell at us anymore?"

"He can't do that," Minako spoke up.

Khadgar wasn't the only one to look at her in confusion. "Why?" Amelia asked.

Minako shrugged. "Because I know him. And he can only yell and shout. Don't ask me why!"

"How would you know him?" Alleria asked. A hint of mistrust appeared on her face. But she didn't show it as distinct as Kurdran did.

"Because she speaks the truth!" the dwarf grumbled. "Now I remember him. That's the greenskin the girl saved from my men."

"Is that true?" Khadgar asked.

"Yes, that's Gobbo!" Minako nodded. "But I don't know how he got here."

She approached the bound goblin. Alleria was going to stop her, but Amelia gave her a sign to let her be. Minako knelt down in front of Gobbo. "I will now remove the gag, and when I do it, you will try not to be as loud as before, okay?"

Gobbo nodded. Minako removed the gag, and he once again started yelling: "YOU TRAITOR! IS THAT HOW YOU KEEP YOUR PROMISES?"

"I told you!" Minako shrugged and pushed the gag back where it belonged. "He can only shout."

"And why is he here?" Zelgadis wondered.

"I wish I knew," Minako replied. "I know Doomhammer gave him the order to watch me, and maybe he took his job a bit too far."

"But how did he get here?" Kurdran asked.

"We can ask him," Minako suggested and moved to free the goblin from his gag.

Khadgar quickly intervened. "No, that won't be necessary," he said hastily. Turning to Amelia, Zelgadis and Kurdran, he said: "This prisoner can be of use to us. Maybe he knows about his master's plans? We could learn much from him."

"Only if he doesn't deafen us before," the dwarf grumbled.

"I'm going to remove your gag again, Gobbo!" Khadgar said. "But if you start screaming again, I will put it back. So please, only reply with a head shake or a nod. Can you do that?"

Gobbo nodded.

Khadgar grabbed the gag, pulled it out and winced, as if he was expecting the same loud yelling as before. But surprisingly, Gobbo didn't say a thing.

"Well then, how did get here?" the Archmage asked. "Did you get here by yourself? Or are others of your kind around?"

Gobbo shook his head. Minako groaned mentally. How was he supposed to answer if the mage asked him two questions at once.

Khadgar seemed to realize that, and he asked: "Is Doomhammer nearby? Does he want to attack the camp of the Burning Blade Clan?"

"HE IS HERE AND HE WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!" Gobbo screamed. Everyone jumped in surprise. "YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO ESCAPE HIS WRATH! THE BURNING BLADE CLAN WILL BE WIPED OUT AS SOON AS THE SUN RISES!"

"So he really is here?" Alleria asked in surprise.

"But why are you here, Gobbo?" Minako wondered.

"I'M FOLLOWING MY ORDERS! THE WARCHIEF TOLD ME TO KEEP AN EYE ON YOU! I TOLD YOU, YOU WOULDN'T ESCAPE FROM ME!"

"And what about the so-called gods?" Zelgadis asked. "Are they there as well?"

"THEY ARE INSIDE A TALL TOWER IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR CAMP!" Gobbo yelled. "THEIR MIGHTIEST WARRIORS ARE GUARDING THEM! AND A TERRIFYING MONSTER!"

"So then it's settled!" Zelgadis said with a grin. "Kurdran Wildhammer - prepare to saddle your chickens!"

"My what?" the dwarf asked grimly.

"The gryphons, of course!" He chuckled. "Just a little joke. I mean we should..."

"We shouldn't listen to the lies of a GOBLIN!" Kurdran growled. "What if it is a trap? What if he's lying?"

"I don't think he's lying," Minako said. A small voice in the back of her head told her to be quiet, but she couldn't resist as she added: "Sometimes it is better to listen to someone before you chop him down with an axe!"

Kurdran gasped in outrage, then he stormed at Minako, violently grabbed the front bow of her Senshi fuku and was just going to smack her in the face, when Zelgadis held him back.

"No, Kurdran! Don't!"

"Let go of me, Greywords!" Kurdran shouted. "This time, the little brat went too far!"

"Stop that at once!" Amelia shouted. "I won't have any of this while I am in this camp, do you hear me? Now put that girl down!"

Kurdran grimaced, then he shoved Minako backwards and let go of her.

"My father and King Terenas didn't form this Alliance so its members could lash out at each other anytime they want," she said with authority in her voice. "He died for the ideals of the Alliance, and I won't let his death be in vain. As long as King Terenas is back in the capital city, I am the leading commander of our troops! And won't have anyone under my command who can't control himself! Did I make myself clear, Wildhammer?"

"Yes... yes, of course, princess..." the dwarf muttered.

Minako gasped at the sudden outburst of the princess.

'What did she say?' she thought. 'She is the leading commander of the Alliance's forces? And... Lord Lothar is DEAD?'

* * *

Archmage Khadgar was sitting in his tent, alone. In front of him, a small crystal ball was placed on a small table. In the middle of that ball, he could see a bearded face.

"Well, how is the situation in Dalaran, my friend?" Khadgar asked the figure within the crystal ball.

Kel'Thuzad of the Kirin Tor shook his head. "Chaotic at best, Khadgar! Since the king's visit, I had no quiet moment for myself."

"I hope you aren't still looking for more of those questionable books I once caught you with, do you?" Khadgar frowned.

"They were only a couple of books regarding Necromancy. I... I thought it would help us to deal with the situation, now that the Horde has been using those Death Knights... but I barely manage to get my usual work here done. Since the king has arrived, I have been busy all day long."

"But why?" Khadgar wondered. "I thought Antonidas would lead him around during his visit."

"He does. Still, he can't make all decisions by himself. At formal meetings, all of the present Kirin Tor have to be present. But that's not the worst thing about it... King Terenas brought his son."

"Prince Arthas?" Khadgar wondered. "Why would he risk taking his son through a war-shaken country? Arthas is still a child."

"It seems he pestered his father long enough until he allowed him to come along," Kel'Thuzad sighed. "Dalaran isn't that far away from the capital, after all. And now I have to make sure the prince doesn't get into trouble while his father is inspecting our progress regarding the Orcs' magical abilities..."

Khadgar had to smirk as he replied: "Aren't you a bit strict with him? I mean, he is just a boy..."

"But the most arrogant boy I've ever seen," his colleague shook his head. "I swear, that little runt is going to be the death of me someday..."

Khadgar heard how someone knocked against the wooden poles of his tent. "We'll talk later, my friend! It looks like I have a visitor."

He dropped the connection to the other crystal ball Kel'Thuzad was using in far away Dalaran, and turned around to face his visitor.

"Princess Amelia! What can I do for you?"

The princess looked around nervously, before she answered. "I wanted to talk to you before we leave for the Burning Blade camp. Can... can we sit down? This make take a while..."

Khadgar nodded. "Of course!" He offered the princess a sitting cushion and sat down in front of her.

"It is about that girl, Minako," Amelia said.

The magician nodded. "I already figured as much. She is an intriguing person, is she?"

"Yes, and a puzzling one at that. I really wonder if what she tells us about her origins is true..."

"Well, your friend Zelgadis seems to trust her," Khadgar pointed out. "And I can't feel any evil or demonic energies within her."

"That's not what I'm worried about, Khadgar," Amelia said. "It's just, well... You know, whenever I look at her... I have the feeling I would look into the eyes of someone else. You know who I am talking about?"

Khadgar stroke his chin thoughtfully. "Lina Inverse..." he muttered. "So I am not the only one... How intriguing!"

"It's not just her eyes, Khadgar," Amelia said. "But her whole behavior, the way she talks... it's just as if Miss Lina was standing in front of me. And the way she talked to Kurdran..."

Khadgar smirked. "Yes, I remember! Miss Inverse had the loosest tongue I've ever seen. She always said her opinions out loud, no matter who was present. She had absolutely no respect for authority."

"What... what shall we do? I told you what powers Miss Lina showed us when we fought the Orcs at the Dark Portal." She sighed. "Why is she doing this, Khadgar? If she really is Miss Lina, why doesn't she reveal herself? Why is she playing this game with us? And if she has those powers, why didn't she use them earlier?"

"We know by now that she has to be a visitor of this outer world... the same world the prisoners of the Burning Blade Clan are coming from. And if all of them have such powers in our world, who knows what they would be willing to do with them?"

"But... there is one thing I don't understand, Khadgar," Amelia said. "Miss Lina... she would have never shown mercy for a member of the Horde. No matter if it was an Orc, a Troll, an Ogre or a Goblin... every time she saw one of them, she ran at them and killed them. I was always shocked how she could do it so easily. And when I asked her, she only told me: 'The only good Orc is a dead Orc!' or 'One Troll kill a day keeps your worries away!' or even 'If the Goblins blow themselves up, why not save them the trouble?' But now..." The princess sighed. "Miss Lina would have never shown a Goblin mercy like Minako did. Is she really Miss Lina or is it just a big coincidence that the two of them are so similar?"

"I can say one thing for sure," Khadgar said after a while. "If there is a world outside of ours, who says there can't be countless other worlds? Remember what Kurdran told us about the strange void behind the mountains? I wish I and my colleagues had more chances to research it..."

He then shook his head. "I would be glad to talk to you more about this subject, princess, but we still have a battle to fight, and I have to prepare myself. And you should look after your troops."

Amelia nodded. "Of course! Thank you for your time, Lord Khadgar!"

She gave him a courteous bow and left the tent.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zelgadis was guarding Minako and Gobbo in a small corner of the camp, where they were able to watch Gourry and the other Paladins getting ready for battle. Gobbo was still bound, and Zelgadis had bound him to a wooden pole that was sticking in the ground.

They watched how Amelia was coming out of Khadgar's tent.

"We should be careful," Zelgadis said. "Those two know something. I wouldn't be surprised if they have already seen through my charade as well."

"Amelia doesn't trust you anymore?" Minako asked in surprise.

"Well, she still sees me as her friend, I believe, but we had our difficulties ever since that battle at the Dark Portal. You didn't see her that day, after I threw you through the portal... how should you? But she got very angry at me. For a while, I was afraid she would throw me through as well, one of these days."

It took Minako some time to realize what Zelgadis' words meant. "Wait a minute... are you saying the Dark Portal still exists?"

"Um, sure!" Zelgadis replied in surprise. "Didn't I tell you? Khadgar tried destroying it with his magic, but there was still a small opening left. Some powerful force was keeping it open..."

"But don't you see?" Minako said excitedly. "This is what we have been looking for: A way back home! When I fell back through the portal, I found myself sitting in front of my father's computer. The Portal must be a passageway between our two worlds as well."

Zelgadis was surprised. "Wow, I never thought of that possibility. Minako, you are surprising me. Normally I am the one who gets all of the good ideas."

Minako smirked. "Well, maybe it's because Zelgadis' Intellect isn't exactly the highest of his attributes."

"But still, your plan has a flaw. The Dark Portal is too far away from here. Even with a fast horse, we would need at least a week to get there."

"Then we'll take a gryphon!"

Zel snorted. "Sure, we just go to Kurdran Wildhammer and ask him nicely if he can lend us one. Can you fly a gryphon? I know I can't!"

"I CAN DO IT!" a loud voice next to them proclaimed. Minako and Zelgadis jumped in surprise... they had nearly forgotten that Gobbo was there. Minako wondered how many of the things they had talked about he had noticed... and more important, how many he had understood.

"What are you saying?" Zelgadis asked.

"I CAN RIDE A GRYPHON!" Gobbo shouted. "MOST GOBLINS CAN!"

"Not so loud," Minako said. "What do you mean, most Goblin can do it?"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK HOW MOST GOBLIN MERCHANTS CAN TRAVEL ALL OVER AZEROTH?" Gobbo yelled. "ON FOOT? NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD A ZEPPELIN!"

"And you... they would listen to you?" Minako asked.

"GRYPHONS DO WHAT THEY WANT! BUT I CAN TRY TO CONVINCE THEM!"

"That means we can get away from here," Minako whispered. "We can get home, Ami!"

"Sssshhhh!" Zelgadis hissed. "Let's not be so hasty. Or are you forgetting the reason why we came here in the first place?"

Realization dawned upon the Senshi's face. "The prisoners..." she said.

Zelgadis nodded before turning back to Gobbo. "Please, only answer with a nod or a head shake... If we help you escape, would you help us with a gryphon?" he asked.

"SURE!" Gobbo shouted so loudly that Zel winced. Then he nodded hastily. "SORRY!!"

"Okay," Minako sighed. "Then please go over to one of the gryphons and try to convince him to carry us out of here. When you are done, give us a sign so we can follow you."

She released Gobbo, and he sneakily made his way to the gryphon pen. Zelgadis and Minako watched him nervously. They looked over to the practicing Paladins, and to Khadgar's tent, but no one was looking their way.

Finally, they could see the goblin standing at the edge of the pen. He was waving and gave them the sign to come over. Minako gave her friend a nod, and they quickly went over to him.

"So you did it?" Minako whispered. "You found a gryphon?"

Gobbo nodded and gave them the sign to follow them. They followed him around the muscular bodies of the gryphons. Minako felt a bit uneasy when she saw their majestic wings and sharp beaks.

And when they finally reached the gryphon Gobbo was talking about, her eyes were ready to pop out of her sockets.

"You... you aren't serious..." she muttered.

"WHY?" Gobbo screamed. "YOU WANTED A GRYPHON! THAT IS A GRYPHON! AND THE FASTEST ONE YOU COULD IMAGINE!"

"But... but this is SKY'REE!" Minako protested. "Kurdran Wildhammer's personal gryphon!"

"SURE!" Gobbo nodded. "NONE OF THE OTHERS WOULD BE ABLE TO CATCH UP WITH HER!"

Minako blinked, then she leaned over to Zelgadis and whispered: "Did you know that Sky'ree was a female?"

When he shook his head, she nodded. "Okay, that's what I wanted to know! Thanks!" Turning back to Gobbo, she asked him: "And why do you think Sky'ree would do what you tell her?"

"BECAUSE I TOLD HER THE TRUTH!" Gobbo yelled. "THAT WE COULD PREVENT THE BATTLE IF WE MANAGE TO SAVE THE THREE GODS! DO YOU THINK THE GRYPHONS ARE DUMB AS ANIMALS?"

Minako didn't know what to answer, so she just sighed. "Well, then what are we waiting for? Get up, you two!"


	9. Now who saw that coming?

Zelgadis looked around before mounting the massive gryphon. "Do you see anyone close by?" he asked.

Minako shook her head. "The dwarven guards of the pen are slacking off, and Kurdran is standing over there, at the cliff. He wouldn't get over here in time."

Zelgadis frowned as he saw the stout form of the dwarf standing next to a tall, robed figure. It was Khadgar.

"What are they doing?" he wondered. "What's so interesting that they look down at the plains?"

Minako shrugged. "Whatever they're doing, as long as they're distracted, it'll help us get away. Now get up already!"

When they climbed on Sky'ree's broad back, they could see the reason why Kurdran and Khadgar were looking that keenly down the cliff. They weren't looking over to the Burning Blade Camp... they were looking westwards, where a huge caravan of armed Orcs and other creatures had appeared.

"DOOMHAMMER!" Gobbo screamed in surprise. "THAT IS THE WARCHIEF'S ARMY!"

"Impossible!" Minako gasped. "They wouldn't be here in a few days. There has to be another explanation..."

"I think so too," Zelgadis nodded. "Look behind them! An army of that size would easily leave a trench behind while walking through the land. But they aren't. It's just an illusion."

"An illusion?" Minako wondered and looked at the Archmage. When she saw the big amount of concentration on his face, she realized that he was creating this extremely vivid image.

"I suppose they are doing it to distract the Burning Blades," Zelgadis assumed. "We can't think about it now. We have to leave now!"

Minako agreed. They sat behind Gobbo, as the tiny goblin took the reigns.

"So... you are really sure you can fly her?"

Gobbo grinned. "WATCH ME!"

And as he gave Sky'ree a pat on the head, the mighty gryphon let out a shrill squawk and flapped her wings. Within minutes, they were soaring above the camp. Minako saw how many surprised warriors gestured up at them. Several dwarves were running to their own mounts.

"I don't like this..." Zelgadis murmured. "They're going to follow us..."

Gobbo grinned. "THINK AGAIN, ROCK-FACE! THEY WON'T, MARK MY WORDS!"

And to their surprise, Gobbo was right. They could see how the dwarves were sitting on the back of their mounts, spurring them on to fly already, but neither of them was moving.

"What's going on?" Minako asked. "Why aren't they following us?"

Gobbo smirked at her. "BECAUSE SKY'REE TOLD THEM NOT TO GO AFTER US!"

"What?" Minako asked in surprise.

"YOU THINK GRYPHONS ARE JUST SMART ANIMALS? THEY ARE MUCH MORE INTELLIGENT THAN YOU WOULD KNOW! HUMANS! YOU THINK YOU CAN USE THEM TO YOUR ADVANTAGE AND HAVE NOT A CLUE!"

Gobbo was right. Up to now, she had always assumed the gryphons were just that, smart animals. She would have never figured the original Warcraft creators had something else in mind when creating them...

"But this is the Azeroth I created..." she murmured. "So why...?"

They flew over the canyon that surrounded the Burning Blade camp. While doing so, they saw how the Orcs got busy preparing themselves for combat, as Khadgar's illusionary army was already reaching the edge of the canyon itself.

Once again, Minako wondered what good such a spell would Khadgar do. It was useful for their own mission, as the Orcs got distracted from the approaching gryphon. But as long as the Alliance troops weren't attacking themselves, why bother with such a big amount of magical energy? Clearly Khadgar would need his mana supplies for more important things...

She got distracted from her thoughts when Zelgadis tapped her on the shoulder. "We'll be on the ground very soon. You ready for battle?"

Minako nodded weakly, although she was worried. She had never fought such a big amount of Orc soldiers by herself before. For Lina Inverse, it would have been no problem. but... could she say the same for Sailor Venus?

Well, at least Zelgadis was at her side...

"Drop us in front of the tower entrance!" Zelgadis told Gobbo. "We'll have to fight them off, but with a bit of luck we can lock them out while we search for the prisoners inside."

Gobbo just nodded and Sky'ree began to lower her altitude.

Now they could see the tower. It was a single, imposing building made from a black material that almost looked like rock... but they had never seen rocks that were this black in color. It seemed as if the tower itself was absorbing every color around it.

They also noticed how the Orc buildings around the tower were adorned with metal plating, sharp spikes and spines. And the spines were clearly pointing towards the tower.

"Strange," Zelgadis commented. "Almost as if they are protecting themselves from an attack from the inside, not from the outside of their camp."

They almost had no time to figure it out, as Sky'ree was rapidly flying towards the ground. By now, multiple Burning Blade Orcs have spotted them, gesturing at them and swinging around their axes. Minako could also see a big amount of Ogres among them.

"Get ready!" Zelgadis shouted. "Here we go!"

They slid off Sky'rees back as soon as the gryphon was hovering just a short distance above the ground. Almost immediately, they found themselves surrounded by Orcs and Ogres. But behind them was the entrance to the tower, a single, huge door made of metal.

As soon as Zelgadis and Minako had landed, Gobbo turned around his mount and started flying upwards.

"What the...?" Zelgadis shouted in surprise. "Hey, is he betraying us?"

Gobbo shouted down to them: "FREE THE PRISONERS! I'LL KEEP THEM BUSY!" And he headed towards the barracks, the place inside the camp where most Orc warriors would come from.

"Not a bad tactic..." Minako murmured... and then she gasped as the first Grunts were attacking them.

Zelgadis welcomed them with his sword. As he was the only one with a short-range weapon, he had almost no time to cast his own spells.

But Minako supported him as best as she could. "VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" she shouted, blasting the incoming Orcs and Ogres.

But especially the two-headed giants turned out to be very resilient against her attacks. Obviously, they were Ogre Magi, as they gestured at themselves and the fighting Orcs, and a red gleam appeared in their eyes. Their spells were giving them an extra boost of attack power and increased their already incredible bloodlust.

"Well, this is it," Zelgadis grimaced as he had to defend himself against three Grunts at once. "At least we tried. I'll see you tomorrow, at Rei's place..."

His words were meant to be a joke, but Minako wondered if they really just appeared behind their PCs when dying in this world. And she didn't want to find out.

Still, the chimera warrior was right: There were just too many enemies they had to fight. They couldn't keep this up forever.

"Let's get back to the tower," she shouted. "That's our only chance!"

Zelgadis nodded, and slowly, they backed off, being driven backwards by the Burning Blade troops.

They reached the massive door and Minako instantly tried to open it... but it wouldn't move.

"Dammit!" she yelled and hammered against the solid metal. "Open up already!"

"I doubt shouting will work," Zelgadis winced. He already dispatched his three opponents, but had to take care of the next attackers. "I wish I had my visor and Mercury Computer with me... that I way I could possibly find another way inside."

But suddenly, the Orcs and Ogres ceased their assault. Their eyes were still filled with bloodlust, but a booming voice called them back: "Stand back! Wait for our sign!"

And then the Ogre Magi respectfully made way for another Ogre that was coming towards them... a large, two-headed creature whose skin was covered with arcane tattoos.

And Minako knew who it was.

"No way!" she muttered. "It's Cho'gall!"

The two bearded heads looked down at the two humans darkly. Then his right head started talking: "Well, if it isn't Zelgadis Greywords! Fancy meeting you out here, all the way from Lordaeron! Is there a reason for your visit?"

"What are you doing here, Cho'gall?" Zelgadis asked. "I thought you and the rest of the Twilight Hammer clan was decimated by Doomhammer's forces."

Both heads laughed at once. "It has been a close call," the left head replied. "But we managed to escape their wrath... Gul'dan wasn't so fortunate, though. Still, we had a sizeable amount of Ogres under our command, and together, we managed to bring the Burning Blade clan under our control."

"But what are you planning?" Minako asked. She figured that they might just live a bit longer if they bought themselves a bit more time.

Cho'gall's right head looked at her thoughtfully, while the other one was still observing Zelgadis. "Have we met?" he then asked. "You seem familiar... But whatever, we guess we already met many human mages in battle, although we believe we have never seen a sorceress with such... peculiar clothes such as you. Well, since you won't be able to take these informations anywhere, we guess we might as well tell you..." He grinned. "Those three strange gods... we want their powers! As soon as we learned that they have built this tower at the edge of the New Land, we came to bring their powers under our control. For if they really are able to do the things Lina Inverse did during the battle of the dark Portal, we figured, why not use those powers for our own needs?" He shrugged. "Unfortunately, that tower was more resilient as we thought."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Cho'gall," Zelgadis grimaced. "But we are going to take them away from here."

Both heads of the Ogre Mage laughed. "You fool really think you can get out here alive?" they asked at once. "Even a 'hero' as you will have a hard time against all of our soldiers at once..."

His left head looked back when they heard the shrill screeches of Sky'ree coming from near the barracks. "We sure hope they will take care of that damned bird already..." he grumbled. "Well, whatever... we would like to give you the chance to surrender yourselves. Admit defeat, and we won't kill you... yet!"

"Forget it, Cho'gall!" Minako growled and prepared to shoot a Crescent Beam right through his fat belly.

The Ogre Mage shrugged. "It's your funeral!" He snapped his fingers. "Kill them!"

The Orcs and Ogres let out their warcries as they all attacked them at once. Minako gasped in surprise and took a step backwards. Her erratic fingers touched the frame of the metal door...

And a loud clicking sound could be heard. The door opened up behind them, and the Orcs stared at the dark opening in surprise.

"For weeks we have tried getting in there..." Cho'gall murmured. He grinned. "Well, thanks for the help, humans! We will write in on your gravestones!"

"Now how did that happen?" Minako murmured.

"Don't ask me," Zelgadis shrugged. "But still, we should go inside and..."

A shrill screech startled them all, and this time, it wasn't from the still fighting Sky'ree... it was coming from inside the tower.

Zelgadis and Minako nervously turned around and looked inside. It might not be wise to turn their backsides to the enemy, but the Orcs and Ogres seemed to be as uncomfortable as they were.

They could not see anything but blackness, but something was moving inside the shadows... something big, and glistening.

"I don't like this..." Zelgadis murmured and raised his sword. "Minako, whatever creature did you put in your game?"

"Don't blame me," the Senshi of Venus whined. "I don't know what this is either."

And then the shadows parted... and with another shrill screech, the monster stepped out into the sunlight.

Minako and Zelgadis yelled in shock as they recognized the creature. Sure, it had four arms instead of just two, and the tip of its tail was tipped with razor-sharp blades... but the elongated, eye-less skull, the slimy-black skin and the spindly limbs were unmistakable.

"Ami..." Minako murmured. "That thing... that... that's a xenomorph... an ALIEN!"

The black creature stood there, snarling and hissing, his saliva dropping down from his jaws. Minako was shaking in fear as she remembered what happened to most victims of an Alien attack in the movies. She nervously patted her chest, to make sure that nothing would come bursting out of there.

The four-armed xenomorph then screeched and leapt - Minako and Zelgadis braced themselves for the attack - and it ran right past them, tearing into the flesh of the Burning Blade Orcs savagely.

For whatever reason, it was completely ignoring the two of them, and it only managed to graze Zelgadis' arm slightly because he didn't manage to get out of its way in time.

The rock-faced chimera cried out in pain as he collapsed on the floor, clutching his arm.

Minako gasped in shock. After making sure that Cho'gall and his men were too busy with the monster to worry about them, she knelt down next to her friend. "Ami! I mean... Zelgadis! Are you all right?"

"I don't know... my arm..." He winced. "I think it's broken..."

"What??" she gasped in disbelief. "But it only grazed you."

She looked over to where the Alien-look-alike was rampaging among the Orcs. She shuddered as she saw the ease with which its limbs were tearing through their armor and flesh.

"M-maybe we shouldn't stay around..." she murmured. Whoever said that once the xenomorph had dealt with the bigger threat, it wouldn't turn to them for dessert?

"Can you walk?" Minako asked her friend.

Zelgadis grimaced as he carefully stood up. "Yes..." he muttered. "I think I can... but I won't be a big help if we have to fight in there."

"Then let's hope four-arms over there doesn't have any friends in there..."

She carefully supported Zelgadis while his right arm was limply dangling down. They entered the dark room behind the entrance door, and Minako quickly closed it behind them.

Sighing in relief, they looked around. Now that they were inside, they realized that it wasn't as dark as it looked from the outside. It was weird, but even though they could see no visible source of light, they were able to see everything in clear detail.

The room they were standing in seemed bigger than the tower itself. Directly across the room, they could see two stairways that for some strange reason were placed directly next to each other, and each of them was much steeper than any stairs they had seen. Also, the front end steps were serrated in an unusual way.

Somehow, Minako got the feeling as if she had been here before in her life...

Zelgadis looked down at the steps. "Strange," he said. "If it wasn't so crazy, I would say this looks almost like a..."

"WATCH OUT!" Minako shouted and pulled her aside. Just next to them, the floor was suddenly turning into a goopy mass of bubbling liquid. Big bubbles were rising to the surface of this pool of molten rock, as if something was sinking in a deep lake of tar.

Only that nothing was sinking in it, but instead, something was coming OUT of it.

Minako recognized the sleek skull of the creature as soon as it came out of the molten floor. She was downright horrified while the creature slowly climbed out of the weird pool using its four arms.

But strangely enough, this xenomorph monster didn't attack them either, just like its cousin that was out there, fighting the Burning Blade Clan. It just stepped onto the more solid ground and walked over to the gate, standing guard with a deep growl and ignored them completely.

"That... that's not right..." she whispered. "Those monsters... they don't belong here! It's... it's just WRONG!"

"What are you saying?" Zelgadis asked, then winced as sharp pain shot through his broken arm.

"This... this isn't the Azeroth I created, Ami..." Minako murmured. "Not anymore..."

"It hasn't been your Azeroth ever since it began flooding the mainframe of COMPUTRON," Zelgadis stated. "But you know what? If we stay here and ponder such questions any longer, we won't be able to find those who could give us some answers."

Minako nodded, still a bit dazed. Carefully, they walked around the still bubbling pool of molten rock and stepped on the left stairway. Curiously, the liquid wasn't even hot. Minako threw one final, frightened glare in the creature's direction, then she helped her friend getting up the stairs.

"Scary..." she muttered. "As if it only appeared because of us..."

"Maybe it's some sort of guardian," Zelgadis assumed. "Just like the monster outside. They were put here to hold off intruders."

"If that is the truth, why didn't they attack us?"

Zelgadis wanted to shrug, but his aching arm prevented it. He grimaced in pain. "I'm glad this is just a virtual wound, I wouldn't want to deal with such an injury back in the real world..."

Minako was doubting if the world they were in was still just a 'virtual' world, but she didn't say anything.

They needed some time until they reached the upper end of the stairs. Minako realized she was right: The tower WAS bigger on the inside.

When they finally reached the broad gallery that was at the top of the stairs, Zelgadis groaned and sank down to the ground. He leaned against the balustrade next to them and breathed heavily.

Minako didn't ask if she was in pain. The rocky face of the chimera was paler than usual, and a fine stream of blood was leaking out of his clothes. She crossed her fingers and pleaded silently that her friend was right when she said that the injuries wouldn't be there when they were back in front of their computers.

"I think I can walk a bit more..." Zelgadis murmured. "Let's go..."

Minako helped him, and together, they followed the gallery until they found a big, wooden door. Before they entered, Minako looked downstairs... and screamed in surprise.

The entrance hall wasn't empty anymore (if you don't count the xenomorph). A massive stream of Orcs and Ogres was coming through the main portal, and the xenomorph welcomed them with flailing fangs and a whipping tail. Minako didn't know how it was possible, but they seemingly had defeated the first monster. Maybe they had just overwhelmed it with their sheer amount of soldiers.

"The Burning Blade Clan!" Zelgadis gasped. "Hurry, Minako!"

She nodded, and they opened the door. Behind it, a long, empty stone corridor was waiting for them. A big amount of other doors was leading to even more corridors. It seemed to Minako as if they were walking for hours through this endless maze of rooms and hallways, until they finally reached a massive double door at the end of one corridor. Right and left of it, stone statues of the four-armed monsters were standing.

The grinning face of a gargoyle was placed in the middle of the doors, as some sort of seal. Minako looked around. She couldn't find any knob, handle or other opening mechanism.

"And what now?" she asked, feeling helpless.

The gargoyle opened his eyes. "Now you have to tell me... THE MAGIC WORD!"

Zelgadis groaned. "Oh, please..." he moaned. "What now?"

"You didn't think I would let just anyone in here, did you?" the gargoyle face grinned. "You have to solve my riddle, or else I won't let you pass."

"Okay... and what is your riddle?" Minako asked.

The gargoyle giggled. "I already told you: You have to tell me THE MAGIC WORD!"

"Okay, and what IS the magic word?" Zelgadis asked in frustration.

The gargoyle winked smugly,. "Guess! I bet you can't find it out before I count to ten. One..."

Minako thought about it. "IS it, umm... abracadabra?"

"Nope!" the gargoyle replied. "Two!"

"Hocus pocus?" Zelgadis suggested.

"Three!" the stone face giggled. "And four!"

"Open Sesame!" Minako said frantically.

"Five, six, seven!" the gargoyle said with glee.

"You should hurry up," Zelgadis said nervously. He looked behind them. The fighting noise coming from the entrance hall was growing louder.

"And eight!" the gargoyle said. "And don't worry about those brutes back there! I won't let them in either, not if they don't tell me THE MAGIC WORD!"

"But we don't know it!" Minako said.

"I'll give you a tip," the gargoyle sneered. "It is not... nine! And it it'S certainly not..."

"THE MAGIC WORD!" Minako blurted out.

The stone face was speechless for a while. "Oops!" it said. "Well, that took you long enough! I almost thought you wouldn't figure it out. Come in, please!"

With a loud 'clack', the gargoyle face turned around, and then the two heavy doors of the portal opened up.

Minako looked back and gasped when she saw at least two dozens of armed Orcs heading towards them, through the corridor. She grasped Zelgadis's hand. "Quick, let's find the technicians!"

While they walked through the door, she noticed how the two xenomorph statues started moving. They weren't statues at all...

And just before the door closed behind them, they could hear the shrill voice of the gargoyle saying: "Hey, you uncivilized buffoons! If you want to get past here, you have to tell me..."

And then the doors closed, and they couldn't hear anything.

Zelgadis sighed in relief. "That was too close." He looked at his friend and smiled at her. "Good job!"

"Thanks," Minako murmured. "But I was surprised myself... I never knew it would be actually the correct answer."

They kept on going. The corridor they were following was huge and empty. No other doors were in here. At its end, they reached a big, spiral staircase that was leading upstairs. When they walked up the stairs, they could hear strange noises coming from above, a strange mixture of hissing, beeping and humming.

Before they could say anything more, a massive blow made the walls below them shake.

"Sounds like someone wants to get in here," Minako gulped.

"Seems like it..." Zelgadis nodded.

Another heavy blow. Once again, they could hear the gargoyle's voice, but now it sounded pained: "But... but gentlemen! I didn't mean it like that! We can talk about everything! No need to get violent!"

Not wanting to find out if the Orcs were willing to cooperate... or if the four-armed aliens were able to hold them off, Minako and Zelgadis hurried up the stairs, reached the top floor of the tower...

And stopped in surprise when they saw the room that was lying in front of them. They had expected to find prisoner cells or anything like that, but not a laboratory.

Because that was what they were seeing. An uncountable amount of flasks, pots and vials was placed on a huge table, floating clouds of all colors were hanging under the room's ceiling, wooden shelves were stuffed with books and scrolls, many blinking, flashing and beeping consoles and devices were standing around, and on the other side of the room, a huge, cylindrical tank was standing. It looked like it was made from copper and was attached to countless wires, tubes and flashlights.

Even stranger than the whole room were the three figures that were working in it. They didn't look like technicians or programmers... they looked like... magicians!

But they didn't look as calm and dignified as Khadgar and his Kirin Tor colleagues, they were hasty... and looked simply ridiculous. They were wearing robes that were definitely too big, and their sleeves were getting much wider at their ends. On top of that, they were all wearing pointed wizard hats on their heads, all of them adorned with the same star pattern. Two of them had beards that looked as false as possible, and which would have looked better on a Santa Claus impersonator.

They very much looked as if they were coming right out of a Disney cartoon.

One of the wizards looked up from his work... and gasped when he saw the two visitors. "Who are you?" he asked. "How did you get in here?"

He angrily turned to the violet-haired man standing next to him, the only one without a beard. "What's going on? What happened to the guardians?"

"They guardians will do their job," the other one answered. He looked over to Minako and Zelgadis. "Who are you anyway?"

"We don't have time for this," Minako pleaded. "The Burning Blade Clan..."

"Burning Blade?" The technician's looked at them blankly. Then he laughed. "Oh, you mean those green creatures? Don't worry, they are not real. Nothing in here is real - even if it might seem so." He spread his arms. "Just a big amount of bits and bytes, nothing more, nothing less! And they couldn't even get in here. This building is absolutely secure..."

"I think that's not the case anymore," the third wizard said with a grim face as he looked into a crystal ball that was attached to a computer monitor. "They have defeated the BAK at the gate, and the one guarding the stairs... they are in here, Xellos!"

The man called Xellos was speechless for a second. "In here? How can that be? Except if..." His gaze wandered over to their two guests. "Of course! You two... you have come from the outside! From the real world!"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you the whole time," Minako grimaced. "We are here to bring you back!"

"Bring us back?" Xellos asked. "Why?"

"We have to talk about this later," one of the other technicians interrupted them. "The inner gate won't hold them for long anymore. They even defeated the two BAKs up here."

"But that's impossible!" Xellos said.

"I'm afraid not. A few more minutes, and they're through."

Xellos looked at Minako and Zelgadis grimly as if he wanted to say: 'Well, looks like you have caused quite a mess!' But he didn't say anything and stepped next to the giant tank.

"Maybe this is a good chance to test the new prototype. I need at least three minutes to prepare it. Make sure to hold them off until then."

"Are you crazy?" Minako asked in disbelief. "Out there are at least one hundred Orcs and Ogres, and even more will come in here! So whatever do you plan that could possibly stop them?"

The violet-haired technician smirked at her with squinted eyes and wagged a finger. "Now that... is a secret!"


	10. Exile from Azeroth

"They are through!" one of the technicians shouted. "Xellos, hurry!"

"Yes, yes..." Xellos said in a very calm voice. "Only one minute! Or at least two!"

Through the open door, they could see how the first Orcs were coming up the stairs. The way they were swinging around their weapons didn't really help to make Minako feel relaxed. Xellos must have nerves of steel.

A minute later, the first Orc appeared at the door, swung his huge axe around and almost brought it down on one of the technicians' head, but Minako shot him with a Crescent Beam, and he fell to the ground.

Behind the Orcs, the two battered xenomorph creatures appeared. With shrill hisses, they attacked them, but it didn't look as if they were able to stop the green-skinned barbarians' assault.

"Xellos, we have to leave!" Minako yelled.

"Just a second," Xellos said cheerfully. "Just a second..." He grinned, reached for a big, red lever at the side of the giant tank and pulled it down. Suddenly, the complete front side of the tank opened and with a loud hiss, a big cloud of steam was released. Through the vapor, they could see the outlines of a dark figure...

But Minako was disappointed when she realized what was stepping out of the tank. It was just another of the four-armed Alien monsters, even if it was a bit smaller than the others. And that was supposed to be Xellos' super weapon?

After tangling up an Ogre with her Love-Me-Chain, Minako gasped: "I can't hold them anymore. Where is the exit?"

"We don't need one," Xellos said with a satisfied smile. "Just wait and see."

The ugly creature moved its head sidewards as if was searching for the scent of its prey. Then it let out a hiss and leapt at the attacking Orcs.

The Orcs' progress was stopped visibly as this version of the xenomorph monsters - or BAKs, as the technicians had called them - was able to fight with multiple opponents at once, mowing down its opponents with his four claw-tipped limbs and the dangerous tail. But the Orcs still got more backup, and in the end, a large axe that was swung at the creature hit its target and cut off one of the BAK's four arms. The monster yowled in pain while the Grunts cheered and attacked it with even more bloodlust.

"Looks like your little pet is losing," Minako nervously said. But to her surprise, these news only seemed to amuse Xellos.

"I'm hoping for it, girl, I'm hoping for it! Look closely!"

Minako did it. At first, she saw nothing... but then, she realized that the severed arm of the BAK was... GROWING.

It happened unbelievably fast, and while the Orcs continued to hack at the creature, its arm was growing to a completely new form... and finally, Minako was looking at a copy of the original monster, which looked exactly the same.

The Orcs didn't notice what happened right next to them, they just continued to hack their opponent into pieces. And when they were finished... the new BAK let out another, blood-curling scream.

At once, the Grunts turned around and attacked the new enemy with vigor. They did not even have big trouble dealing with this second opponent, as the BAK did not really defend itself... it just waited while the Orcs slashed at it with their weapons.

And in the meantime, behind them the same scary scene was taking place: The strewn parts of the first BAK were slowly growing... and within seconds, there were five Alien monsters that rose from the ground and tore into the Burning Blade warriors.

"Unbelievable!" Zelgadis gasped.

"Isn't it?" Xellos grinned with a nod. "I must admit that this result surpasses even my expectations. I wasn't too sure if it was the right choice to give the BAKs an artificial intelligence... but it seems like it was the right choice."

"Intelligence?" Minako wondered. "You mean they are actual, thinking creatures?"

"Not living creatures like you and me," Xellos explained. "They have not the same consciousness as we have. But they are very good fighters, as you can see."

Meanwhile, the BAKs were creating a massacre under the Burning Blade warriors. The Orcs and Ogres defended themselves as good as they could, but every time they hacked or sliced a limb off a creature, it turned into a new opponent within seconds.

"How did you do that?" Zelgadis asked in awe.

Xellos shrugged. "A simple mathematic progression. I don't have a calculator here, but I'd like to guess that if those green brutes are keeping this up, the number of our guardians will have tripled."

Minako didn't like the happy tone in his voice one bit. "And you think that's funny, do you?" she grumbled.

Xellos looked at her in irritation. "No... it's interesting, but not..."

"You... you kill them as if they were..."

"Toys?" Xellos interrupted. "Illusions? Exactly, that's what they are. I know how you must feel, girl, but you don't have to be afraid. All of this... it isn't real, you understand? This is just a computer game... although I must admit, it's a game out of control. I don't know who you are and how you got here, but you don't have to fear anything. No one here is in danger or will be hurt."

"And... what if we die in here?" Minako asked with a nervous glance on Zelgadis and his broken arm.

Xellos shrugged. "I don't really know. But I would say we will wake up where we started. Where did you enter the game?"

Before Minako could think of an answer, one of the other technicians shouted: "Xellos! Something's not right!"

The purple-haired technician hurried over to his colleague's side and looked at a small screen, then at the battle which was still raging.

"Well, this is unfortunate..." Xellos muttered. "The matrix has no time to regenerate itself..."

"What do you mean?" Minako asked, fearing the worst.

Xellos gestured at the regenerating BAKs. "They are defeating them too quickly. They don't have the time to regenerate in time. Therefore, they are losing their original structure..."

"Um... okay..." Minako blinked.

"I see what you mean," Zelgadis muttered. "Don't you see it, Minako? The new monsters that are appearing... they are not as big and strong as their originals had been."

Xellos winced. "I have to keep that in mind for next time..." he murmured.

"IF there is a next time," Minako said. "I know the Burning Blade Clan. And they know no mercy."

"The girl is right," one of Xellos' colleagues said. "Maybe we should leave."

"And leave everything behind?" Xellos asked with a frown. "I don't think so."

Minako impatiently pointed at Zelgadis. "Listen, my friend's arm is broken!"

"So?" Xellos asked.

"While I can't say if it really is broken or if it's just an illusion, I can tell you that it REALLY hurts. A lot. I really don't want to find out if we actually die if they get us."

Xellos seemed to think about it, then he sighed. "There... there is no second exit. We never thought..."

"Is there a way to the roof?" Minako asked.

"Yes, but I don't see how that will help us... or can you fly?"

"I can't!" Minako said. "But I know someone who can. Quick! Show us the way!"

One of the two other 'wizards' quickly pushed a button near him, and a secret door opened in the back wall of the room. Xellos quickly pushed another button, and the giant copper tank closed.

While the Orcs still had to fight with the remaining BAKs, the three technicians fled up the stairs that were behind the secret door. Minako once again helped Zelgadis, and they followed the three other men.

The stairs led to a big, circular platform without any balustrade. Down below, Minako could see the Burning Blade Camp. By now it was illuminated with hundreds of torches, and most of the warriors were streaming into the tower. She still could see the massive, simulated army that Khadgar had created, but either Cho'gall saw through the illusion, or the attack on the tower was more important to him than the fight against Doomhammer's forces.

She could find no trace of Sky'ree and Gobbo!

"Where is he?" Minako yelled. "Dammit, where is that green pain-in-the-neck?"

"Maybe he had to flee?" Zelgadis assumed.

Minako groaned. "That's just great..." She turned around to face Xellos. "Could you tell me what's going on here? I thought you were the prisoners of the Burning Blade Clan!"

"We had everything under control," Xellos said with a frown. "And we still would have, if not for the two of you. The entrance only opens for characters that are controlled by humans in front of a computer."

"I'm terribly sorry that we risked our lives while trying to save you," Minako grimaced. "It won't happen again!"

"It's okay," Xellos sighed. "How were you supposed to know? Maybe it was my mistake."

A loud crash was coming from the door they had closed behind them. The latch was still holding, but for how long?

"Your friend has to hurry if he wants to save us," Xellos pointed out.

"Why are you scared?" Minako asked. "I thought we couldn't die in here."

Xellos looked at her. There was no real expression on his face. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "I just hope that it isn't the case. Or else all of our work will have been in vain."

Then one of the other technicians shouted in surprise: "Wh-what's that?"

Minako turned around... and sighed in relief.

Sky'ree was coming. The huge gryphon appeared behind a mountain peak and approached them with powerful flaps. She then descended and landed on the tower's roof. A green face appeared between her feathers and Gobbo yelled: "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET UP!"

He shouldn't have come a minute later, because just then, the door behind them broke apart in a shower of splinters and the Orcs came running at them.

While the technicians were - nervously - climbing on the broad gryphon's back, Minako fought them off with every attack she knew. Even Zelgadis helped her as good as he could... his healthy arm slashed out with his sword, and he even found enough strength to mutter a few incantations.

"Fr... freeze Arrow..."

When the three men were all on Sky'rees back, Minako followed them. "Zelgadis! Hurry!"

"I... I can't..." the chimera muttered. Suddenly, he gasped and dropped his sword. His face was as white as a sheet.

"ZELGADIS!" Minako yelled and jumped down to help him. His injury must have been worse than they thought. Or maybe Ami didn't want to tell Minako, so she wouldn't be worried...

Minako swung around her Venus-Love-Me-Chain, but to no avail. More and more Orcs and Ogres were coming, and she was almost out of breath. Zelgadis couldn't mount Sky'ree by himself, neither of the technicians made any attempt to help him, and she couldn't do anything as long as she had to fight off the Orcs.

Just then, a shrill scream came from behind the Burning Blades. The Ogres turned around their ugly heads in surprise when suddenly, dozens of four-armed monstrosities were appearing behind them. The BAKs were back. And this time, it seemed as if the Orcs wouldn't get any more backup. The camp below them was empty, as well as the stairway behind the horrifying creatures.

"WHAT'S THAT?" Gobbo screeched. "DEMONS! BLACK DEMONS FROM THE NETHER REALMS!"

"No..." Minako grumbled. "I'm afraid they aren't that harmless, Gobbo..."

The battle ended as abruptly as it had begun. The Orcs were completely taken by surprise, and although they made sure not to hack their opponents into pieces again, it didn't save them. The few that escaped from the natural killing tools of the BAKs stumbled over the roof's edge and fell down below into the deep abyss.

Minako knelt down next to Zelgadis. She gasped when she saw the bad condition her friend was in.

"Well, that was a close one," Xellos sighed. He and his colleagues had demounted the huge gryphon. He looked at his BAKs proudly and gestured to the entrance of the tower. "Shall we go back inside?"

"Wait!" Minako said. "Please help me! My friend..."

Xellos seemed irritated. "But that's not necessary, my girl. It's over, we don't have to flee..."

"But we have to go back to Amelia and the others... we have to warn them not to attack the tower."

Xellos looked at her in confusion. "But why? They are just..."

"Please!" Minako pleaded. "They might just be data to you, but to us, they're our friends. We HAVE to help them."

Xellos sighed. "If you really want to... I still say you would be safer here, with us."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Gobbo screamed.

Xellos looked at him with a grin. "You are a funny little guy... even if a bit loud. What a shame..."

A blood-curling scream interrupted him followed by a horrible, screeching sound. She, Xellos and Zelgadis looked around in surprise... and saw how four of the BAKs were attacking the two other technicians at once. They didn't tear them apart like they did with the Orcs, but they dragged them away, while the others were jumping at Sky'ree. The gryphon killed two of them easily, but more xenomorphs were coming at them.

"But... but that's..." Xellos stammered. "SHIN! AKITO!"

But they couldn't do anything for the two men. Minako quickly helped Zelgadis on Sky'ree's back and pulled the dazed Xellos after her, then the gryphon spread its wings and rose up into the air, while below them, more and more Alien monsters were streaming out of the door...

* * *

"How... how could that happen?" Xellos was frantic. "That should have never happened!" His face was as white as chalk, and he clung to Sky'ree's feathers with all his might.

"I'm... sorry for your friends," Minako said softly. She tried to chase away the gruesome images of the two other technicians being dragged off by the BAKs. She was seriously hoping they did not behave just like the Aliens in the movies did...

Xellos shook his head. "That's not what I mean," he said. "I don't think they will be in danger. I already told you nothing in here can really hurt us. But the BAKs shouldn't have attacked us. They... they are not SUPPOSED to be able to do that!"

"Well, many things have happened that aren't supposed to be able to happen," Minako murmured.

"If you are done talking," Zelgadis gasped, as his broken arm was still hurting like hell. "You could ask that stupid goblin where he's flying. I don't think that's the correct way to the Dark Portal."

In surprise, Minako looked around. Her friend was right: Sky'ree wasn't flying the way they had agreed to take, she was directly heading back to the Alliance camp.

"Gobbo!" she shouted. "What are you doing? That's not the right way! Are you insane?"

The goblin turned around his head and looked at her. A very strange smile was on his face, a smile that wasn't like him at all.

"On the contrary, you dimwits!" he said.

He SAID it! He didn't shout. And that meant...

Minako yelped in surprise when suddenly, the big gryphon started flying downwards, towards the camp that was lying beneath them. For a while, Minako was afraid that they would crash into the ground, but in the nick of time, Sky'ree spread her wings and landed softly.

But it was still hard enough to make the Senshi of Venus lose her grasp. She slid down the feathered body of the gryphon and rolled over the ground. She shook her head and when she looked up... she looked right into the grim faces of two armed dwarf warriors.

When she looked over to Gobbo, she saw a strange image: Khadgar and Amelia were standing next to Gobbo, as if they were old friends.

"Why?" she asked. "Why did you betray us, Gobbo?"

The goblin grimaced. "Betrayed?" He then looked up at the mage. "Lord Khadgar, please do me a favor and put and end to this farce."

Khadgar nodded and moved his hand a bit. A shower of golden sparkles covered the goblin, and when they disappeared, he wasn't Gobbo anymore, but...

"K... Kurdran?" Minako muttered. "You??"

"Of course, you fool!" the dwarf shouted angrily. With a comically altered voice, he mocked: "I can ride a gryphon! All goblins can!" He then gave her a snide snort. "Did you really believe all of that? Or even that Sky'ree would betray ME?"

"But... but why...?" she asked and looked up at Khadgar's face. "Why that... trap?"

Amelia didn't say anything. Khadgar scowled at Minako. "To be on the safe side," he finally said. After a second of silence he added: "Lina Inverse!"

Minako didn't protest. Why bother? It seemed to her as if the Archmage could read every single of her thoughts.

"How long did you know?" she asked.

"From the very first second you arrived at the camp," Amelia said in a very quiet voice. She sounded hurt. "Why? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I... I..." Minako didn't know what to say.

Khadgar looked over to where the soldiers were guarding Xellos and Zelgadis. Zelgadis' face still was a mask of pain, while Xellos only looked a bit confused... and amused. As if all of this didn't concern him, even not the sharp axes and swords pointed at his body.

"Is that one of the prisoners?" Khadgar asked. "I thought there were three."

"Two of them are dead," Kurdran said grimly.

"So you had troubles saving them?"

"Not from the Burning Blades!" the dwarf scoffed. "From the demons! They almost got us, too."

"Demons?" Amelia gasped. "So the goblin told us the truth?"

Khadgar rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then stepped towards Xellos. "So, this is how a god looks like?" he asked. "I must admit, I had a different picture of you in mind..."

"Who are you?" Xellos asked.

"The question is: Who are you?" Khadgar shot back. "What is your name?"

"My name is Xellos... but I am no god! Did the girl tell you that?"

"You know each other?"

"Only for a short time. But you could say that the three of us are... from the same country."

Khadgar looked at Zelgadis in surprise and Amelia let out a shocked gasp. "M-Mr. Zelgadis... you too?"

"I am..." Zelgadis muttered.

"How many of you are there, Mr. Greywords?" Khadgar asked. "Ten? One hundred? One thousand?"

"Only the two of us," Minako quickly said. "And him and the other two," she hastily added as Khadgar raised his eyebrow. "But you got it wrong. It's not like you think!"

"Then explain it to us," Amelia pleaded. "And please, Miss Lina... please end this masquerade and turn back into your normal form! Let me... let me talk to the woman that has been my friend!"

Minako winced. "Believe me, I would love to, Amelia... but I can't!"

"Aren't we worth even this little effort?" a grim voice coming from the guards asked. Minako looked back... and winced again when she recognized Gourry Gabriev.

"That's not it," Minako tried to explain. "See, we are not omnipotent. When we enter this world, we... we are bound to the body we entered it in." She grimaced. "Believe me, at this moment I would do anything just to make it different."

Gourry shook his head sadly. "All of this... it's so confusing. And very disconcerting. Why, Lina? Why didn't you tell us the truth?"

"Maybe I can explain a few things," Xellos said with a smile. Minako couldn't believe how quickly his expression had changed. Just minutes ago, he was on Sky'ree's back, shaking because of his lost friends. But she started to doubt that he really had acted that way because of the other two technicians.

Khadgar looked at the purple-haired man with a thoughtful expression. "Maybe that will be a good idea. But for now... take them away! We will talk to them later!"

* * *

Minako barely found any sleep this night. The recent events worried her immensely. And she believed she wasn't the only one. The humans, elves and dwarves inside the Alliance camp still believed her and the other two to be real gods... and that wasn't a pleasant image.

She was spending the night apart from the others. Zelgadis was brought to the healer's tent, where his wounds and his broken arm were taken care of, while Khadgar had taken Xellos to his own tent. She had no idea what they had done with the real Gobbo.

When morning came, someone entered her tent. She wasn't put into a cage like usual prisoners, but she never thought of escaping for once... even if her tent wasn't guarded by two heavily armed paladins.

Amelia sat down next to her with a nervous smile, making sure to keep some distance to the Senshi. "You can't sleep?"

Minako shook her head. "Amelia... you don't have to treat me like a stranger. We have been in many adventures together, right? Aren't we friends?"

The princess of Azeroth sighed. "I just fear that I only thought to have something like a friend with Miss Lina... But now I'm not even too sure who is sitting in front of me."

Minako wanted to say something, but Amelia stopped her. "I'm not here because of that. It's because of our..." She paused in mid-sentence. "Your friend."

"Zelgadis?" Minako asked in alarm.

"Or whatever he really calls himself," Amelia nodded. "His life might be in danger."

Minako gasped. "What? But..."

"He's gravely injured," Amelia explained. "But that's not the main problem. Our healers, priests and paladins can take care of every single wound with their magic. But still, his life is slowly draining away in front of their eyes."

"But I thought he wasn't that badly injured," Minako stuttered in horror.

Amelia sighed. "We don't know how it happened, but maybe it has to do with what happened to you in that tower... Kurdran told me how he kept on fighting, even after his arm broke. Are all residents of your home world this brave?"

"No..." Minako whispered. A tear was flowing down her face. "Can I... can I see him?"

"Yes, but I want to ask you one question first, Miss Lina, or Minako... or whatever your real name is."

Minako nodded. "Minako! That's my name."

Amelia hesitated. "And this is... this is really your true form?" she asked. "Or are you immortals that walk among the stars and play your games with us mortals?"

"We aren't immortal," Minako sighed. "We are more similar than you believe, Amelia."

"If that is the case, why did you just watch when thousands of people died?"

That question was unexpected. "Wh-what?"

"You could have saved countless brave men, back when we fought the Orcs," Amelia cried. "All of these lives! You could have saved them!"

"No, I couldn't have!" Minako protested.

"Don't lie!" Amelia shouted. "I saw your power, back when we fought at the Dark Portal! I know you could have prevented it!"

"But believe me, Amelia, I'm not a god. These were just a few tricks, nothing else! But there are rules I have to keep in mind. I can't do anything I want!"

Amelia didn't say anything to that, but Minako could feel that she expected her to say more. But what was she supposed to say? That everything here was just part of a COMPUTER GAME? That what just happened were the results of what happened when someone broke the rules?

Amelia was clearly disappointed and she made Minako feel it. She rose to her feet and looked down at her like a queen would to her vassals. "Forgive me for my intrusive questions, Miss Lina! Now if you would follow me to the healer's tent..."

* * *

The visit in the healer's tent was short, but painful. Zelgadis wasn't even conscious to see how Minako entered the tent. She also couldn't stand to look at him for a very long time. She prayed to whoever was listening in this strange world, that Ami would be fine if they returned back home.

After the visit, Amelia didn't come back with her. She was being escorted back to her tent by a grim-looking captain who shoved her inside as soon as they reached the tent. No, Minako didn't just imagine it: The members of the Alliance wanted her to feel how much they despised her.

Some time later, someone else appeared in her tent. It was Xellos. His talk to Khadgar seemed to be over.

"I must say, all of this is indeed incredible," he said with a glint in his eyes. He sat down next to her. "All of this here is very impressive! You have my compliment!"

"I... don't know what you are talking about," Minako said hastily.

"For a while, I was wondering who created this version of the game world," Xellos said. "This is much more than the usual campaigns the regular gamers are creating. You managed to design a version of Azeroth in which every single human has almost-human intelligence and is able to interact with you like every human would. This is even more extensive than the 'World of Warcraft'. True, you didn't include Kalimdor or Outland... but regarding the speed in which Azeroth is growing, maybe it will actually be there some day. And its residents will actually believe that it always had existed. And that is the most impressive thing about it: You created a program that was able to expand and program the new parts of its world by itself. A truly impressive feat for a girl your age!"

"I don't know why you are telling me all of this," Minako murmured and looked at the ground.

Xellos grinned. "Don't even try to deny it. I already figured out that it was you who created all of this."

"Me?" Minako tried to sound bewildered, but she couldn't hide the nervousness in her voice. "How did you get that idea?"

"I talked to this Archmage, Khadgar," Xellos said. "An intriguing character, it almost feels as if I was talking to a real person. He told me a big amount of interesting stories... especially about Lina Inverse and her adventures..." He shrugged. "It wasn't too hard to figure out the rest."

"I don't know what you are talking about," Minako insisted sullenly. "I was just sitting at my computer when..."

"You mean, your father's computer," Xellos smirked.

Minako stared at him. She gulped.

"Don't worry, you won't get in trouble. And neither will your father."

"How... did you know?" Minako stuttered.

Xellos laughed. "I could tell you that this... was a secret!" He chuckled. "But I think you deserve to know the truth. It's very simple, actually: I just recognized you on a picture that was standing on your father's desk at his working place. A picture of his family."

"And why should I believe you that you won't tell anyone?" Minako asked. "The damage done to your company..."

Xellos interrupted her. "I am a technician, not an accountant. I'm not too interested in money... But this, this interests me very much. The world you created. By the way, if we manage to copy what you accomplished, my company might just make millions."

"But I don't really know how it happened," Minako protested. "It was just an accident."

"Most great inventions were created by accident," Xellos shrugged. "You just tell me what exactly you did, and there will be a big possibility that we are able to recreate the process."

"IF we can get back..." Minako muttered.

"Don't worry," Xellos said. "Sooner or later, they people at COMPUTRON will realize that something went wrong and will try to get us back."

He once again looked around the tent and also at the landscape outside. "I can only say it again, all of this is truly incredible! A pity we'll have to destroy it..."

"Ex... cuse me?" Minako gasped.

Xellos nodded, and she could hear a hint of regret when he continued: "We have to switch off the program. It's spreading, and within a few days, it will have spread all over the city. I believe you have heard about the incident at the supermarket. If we don't stop it, it will have infested every computer in Tokyo... and maybe it will grow even more."

"And how are you planning to do that?"

"Oh, there are some possibilities," Xellos explained. "I and my colleagues are specialists, you know? It's our job to fix such problems."

"Just as you fixed the problem with the BAKs?" Minako asked sharply.

The technician shrugged. "Mistakes happen. They are not bad, as long as you can learn from them. And you have to remember that Akito and Shin are not really in danger. It will be a bit harder to get them back, but it's really just a matter of time."

They heard footsteps, and when they turned around, they could see Kurdran Wildhammer and Gourry Gabriev, accompanied by a big number of soldiers and paladins.

"We have discussed your fate," the dwarf said grimly. "And Khadgar thinks it will be the best if we help you leave this world."

"No problem!" Xellos said with a grin.

"But you will never come back!" Kurdran went on. "You will go back to wherever you came from and stay there. You will be exiled from Azeroth forever."

Minako stayed silent. She had anticipated a similar judgement, but it was still painful to hear. She looked at Gourry, and the knight returned the look with a steely glint in his eyes that wasn't really like him. She couldn't really blame him. He felt betrayed.

"As I said, you will leave, you and everyone of your kind that may still be here."

"We are the only ones," Minako said. "I give you my word of honor that there isn't anyone else."

"Whatever this word may be worth..." Gourry grumbled. "I will be honest with you, Lina... Kurdran was willing to kill all of you. And he wasn't the only one. But Amelia doesn't like the idea of revenge... and neither do I. Give me your promise that you will never come back, and you may go."

"I... I swear it!" Those words stung in Minako's heart like the thrown spear of a troll headhunter.

"I have prepared two of my fastest gryphons," Kurdran said with a growl. "They will take you to the Dark Portal. Zelgadis said that he will get better when he is back in your home world, and Amelia believed him."

'I sure hope she's right...' Minako thought to herself.

"I'm sorry for what happened..." Minako said in a sad voice. "I didn't want all of this to happen, Gourry."

"Enough of this!" Kurdran snapped. "Leave! If you ever come back, you will be our enemies!"

* * *

Ten minutes later, two strong gryphons were taking Xellos, Zelgadis and Minako to the Dark Portal. They needed several hours until they reached the valley in which the ruins of the portal were lying, but the swirl between the worlds was still there.

To Minako, it felt as if it was just yesterday when they all fought the Orcs and Ogre Magi at this place. In a corner of her mind, she wondered what happened to Cho'gall since they saw him the last time in the Burning Blade camp.

Azeroth's sun was directly above them when they stepped through the swirling vortex which was the gate that connected the worlds.

* * *

Everything felt like a dream to Minako when she awoke, sitting back in her father's office chair, with the heavy headgear on her head. She had trouble to let go of the illusion that was inside the computer world, and she shook her head.

She took off the headgear and tried to get up... but then she stumbled forwards and with a surprised yelp, she realized that she was falling. As she was still holding onto the headgear, its cables yanked on the computer console. Minako's arms flailed around, hit the monitor... and with a loud crash, everything fell down to the floor.

Artemis' head shot up from Minako's bed as he heard the loud crash. "Minako!!" he shouted and ran into the office.

Minako was lying next to the desk, all around her the remains of her father's computer. "Oooooh, stupid..." she groaned.

"Minako! What happened? Are you okay?"

"Oooooh, shut your big mouth for once, Artemis, I'm fine!" She winced. "Although I have one heck of a headache..."

Artemis looked around her. "Well, your father will get a headache when he sees what happened to his computer. What the heck happened to you?"

"I'll explain in a minute, but first, let me..." She suddenly gasped. "Ami! I have to make sure Ami is okay!"

"Ami? What...? What are you talking about?"

Minako didn't reply, she stood up, ran to the room's door... and collided with her mother who was coming inside.

"Minako!" she shouted in surprise. "What...?" She gasped when she saw what happened to the PC. "Oh my god! What did you do?"

"Mom, I will explain, but please let me use the phone first! I have to talk to Ami!"

"Ami? Now wait just there, young lady! Whatever can be so important that you can't explain to me why your father's computer is in pieces?"

"I'll tell you everything once I talked to her, but please, Mom, it's very important! Please, let me talk to Ami!"

Her mother was really confused, but in the end, she nodded. "But your explanation will better be good..." she murmured.

Just then, the phone rang. Both Minako and her mother were surprised, then her mother walked out of the room and to the telephone. She answered.

After a while, she put it down again. "That... that was Ami's mother," she said. "She told me that she heard a scream coming from her daughter's room, and when she ran to look, she found Ami sitting in her chair, wearing the same headgear your father owns on her head... but she was unconscious. They brought her to the hospital, so she will be fine."

She looked at her daughter sternly. "Minako" What did you and Ami do? You did something with those things, right?"

Minako winced as her mother shook her head. "Pity, and here I thought we could trust you..."

Suddenly, the phone rang again. Her mother picked up, and when she was finished, she looked even more confused.

"That... was your father," she said. "He said I shouldn't send you to school today. He will come home soon... and he's bringing someone from COMPUTRON."

"Did... did he say who?" Minako asked. She had a bad feeling about this...

Her mother shrugged. "One of his colleagues, a computer specialist. I believe his name is Mr. Xellos or something like that. I wonder why he would want to bring him along..."


	11. Nightmare of Destruction

A few hours later, they could hear cars driving up to the house. When Minako looked out of her window, she recognized her father and Xellos, this time dressed in a conservative business suit, accompanied by three other men she didn't know.

She sighed. "Well, looks like Xellos did break his promise after all..."

When she went down into the living room, her father, Xellos and the three other men were already sitting there.

Xellos smiled at her, while her father's and all the other men's faces stayed emotionless.

"Hello, we were just talking about you. Good to finally meet you on the other side of the screen." He gestured at the three men. "As you can see, I brought a few guests, two of our managers and the company's lawyer."

Minako gasped. "Lawyer?"

Her father raised his hands in a calming gesture. "No need to get worried, Minako! Mr. Xellos already told me what happened when you were in that game... again!" He frowned.

"Still, we are interested in that program you created, even if it was by accident," the lawyer said in a calm voice.

Xellos nodded. "Yes, and as you are its inventor, we'd like to buy it from you. COMPUTRON won't hold you and your father responsible for the damage caused by your little... 'accident'. And your father can keep his job. But in return, you'll sell us the rights to do whatever we want with your little invention."

The lawyer took a small piece of paper out of his case and put it on the table. It was a contract. "You only have to sign this, Mr. Aino!"

Minako and her father looked at each other, then Mr. Aino took his pen and signed the contract. He really had no other choice.

Xellos nodded in satisfaction. Minako had seen this look on his face before... it was back in the virtual world, when he was trying out his new BAK prototypes.

"How are your friends doing?" she finally said.

"Shin and Akito?" Xellos asked. "Oh, they are fine. Unfortunately, they are under shock and are in the hospital right now."

"Well, I would be in shock as well, had Alien's ugly twin brother abducted me."

The technician grinned. "Oh, so you recognized it? I admit I am a big fan of fantasy and science fiction, but I admit that my creations weren't as imaginative as yours."

* * *

Some time later, after Xellos and the other three men had left, Minako's mother sat down next to her husband and daughter.

"So that's it?" she asked. "They know everything? And still, they don't hold you responsible? Why?"

"Because they saw the deal of their lifetime," Minako's father grumbled. "Mr. Xellos isn't a fool... he instantly recognized that the program Minako accidentally created was worth millions."

"And you just..."

"Sold it to them? Of course I did! I had no choice! Do you think I want to take court action against a company as COMPUTRON? Besides, we'll get a small provision."

Mrs. Aino looked at her daughter in surprise. "Then Minako actually did us a favor with what she did?"

Her husband stayed silent. He firmly looked at his daughter as well.

"So, you've been at my computer again last night?" he asked. Minako nodded meekly.

He sighed. "Well, it's all over, Minako! Xellos has what he wants and they say they can take care of the problem. So, why don't you tell me what REALLY happened tonight?"

* * *

This night, Minako had a nightmare. When she woke up, she was sweating heavily, and she couldn't quite remember exact details of her dream, but she remembered seeing the horrified faces of Amelia and Gourry.

"Are you all right?" Artemis asked in worry.

Minako nodded. "Yes, I... I just had a bad dream."

She got scared when suddenly, the modem on top of her computer started beeping. Her hands shivered.

Artemis looked back and forth between Minako and the flashing light on her computer modem. "Well, don't you want to see who's giving you a call at this late hour?"

"Yeah... sure," she murmured and sat down in front of her computer.

When she opened her chat program, she let out a sigh of relief. "It's just Ami..." she murmured.

"Well, what did you expect?" Artemis mocked. "That Kurdran Wildhammer and Khadgar are giving you a call?"

Minako frowned at him, then she answered the call. Ami's blurry face appeared on screen.

"Minako! Thank god, you're still awake!"

"Ami... I thought you were at the hospital," Minako said in surprise.

"I came home this evening. The doctors told me I'm fine, but... actually, I don't feel fine. I fact, I can still feel every single wound that Zelgadis received back in Azeroth. Minako, I had a nightmare!"

"Yeah, me too!" Minako nodded. "I dreamt of Amelia and Gourry... but then again, it's not too surprising, if you consider what happened to us..."

"See, this is what I wanted to talk with you about," Ami said. "This game... I'm not too sure that it is really an illusion anymore. I'm afraid that Azeroth somehow... became reality."

Minako stared at her friend. "Ami, are you sure you are okay?"

"I'm not crazy, okay? I didn't have just a dream. I dreamt of Khadgar and Amelia, and they called for our help. They are in danger. All of Azeroth is in danger. Something terrible must be happening in there."

"Ami... it's just a computer game..."

Artemis tilted his head. "Are you sure about that?" he asked. "Didn't you tell me yourself that everything you saw looked real to you... even more than when you played the game before?"

"We have to get back there!" Ami insisted. "Are you coming?"

"Ami, are you nuts? I thought you're not feeling well. Besides, they will catch us."

"Don't worry, I'll find a way in there. I deleted your codes, but I can also reactivate them. When I'm finished, nothing will be able to stop Lina Inverse and Zelgadis Greywords!"

"That's impossible, Ami..." Minako said in a sad voice. "Azeroth will only exist for a few days... maybe even only a few hours. Xellos himself told me they are going to delete it."

"But that's murder!" Ami gasped. "They can't do that!"

Minako winced. The images Ami's words were creating were causing immense pain to her heart.

"Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!" she shouted. "I'm not going back there and I won't let you go back either!"

Ami frowned. "Minako, what are you saying? Do you really want to..."

"We can't!" Minako screamed. "Don't you realize? We can't control it anymore!"

"And how do you plan on stopping me? You know I'm better with the computer than you."

"Yes, you are," Minako nodded. "But not as good as Xellos..."

Ami gasped. "Minako... you can't be serious..."

"I am serious," Minako said, then she started sobbing. "WE CAN'T EVER GO BACK TO AZEROTH!"

Ami looked at her for a while, then she frowned. "Fine," she said and disconnected. Her picture vanished from Minako's monitor.

Artemis stared at Minako in disbelief. "What did you just do?"

"Please, Artemis..." Minako sobbed and got back to bed. "Just leave me alone..."

Artemis looked at his Senshi charge for a while, then he let out a deep sigh and looked back at the computer.

"I sure hope Ami knows what she's doing..." he murmured, before he curled up on Minako's blanket.

* * *

The following day, Minako could not bring herself to do anything. All day long, she was lying on her bed, not doing her homework, not calling her friends, never even touching her computer. In fact, she had pulled all of her computer's cables out of the wall so she had her peace of quiet.

Artemis tried talking her into meeting with Usagi and the others, or into going to the arcade, anything... just so she would get out of this misery.

In the afternoon, her mother once again looked into her room and shook her head. "Girl, you are a mess! Why don't you go outside and do something with your friends?"

"Don't wanna..." Minako murmured.

Her mother sighed. "All right, that's enough! At least make yourself useful and come shopping with me."

"Alright already..." Minako groaned and lifted her heavy body from her bed.

While they were driving along the streets, Minako couldn't help but wonder: "Hey, this isn't the usual route we're taking, is it?"

"Didn't you hear?" her mother said. "The UNIVERSE closed. Seems like the accidents got worse, so much that they can't afford to stay open as long as the problem at COMPUTRON isn't solved. Well, hopefully this Mr. Xellos and his men will find a solution soon."

"I hope so, at least... WATCH OUT!!"

Minako's mother stepped on the brake so hard that the car nearly slid sideways on front of the big crossing. They had almost crashed into another car which was coming from the right.

"Is that guy crazy?" Minako gasped. "He could have hit us!"

"And the traffic lights are clearly green," her mother ranted. "Why, I'm gonna give this guy a piece of my mind..."

She angrily left the car and stepped up to the other car, while its driver was coming out as well, but curiously, in outrage as well.

Curiously, Minako looked over to the other traffic light. They had slid so far to the right that she was able to see the lights for the cars coming from the right.

And she gasped. The traffic light over there was green... just as the light in front of her.

Her mother must have realized this as well, as she was much more polite to the man. They gestured at the traffic lights, nodded at each other and in the end, even shook hands.

"Do you believe this?" her mother muttered as she came back into the car with a pale face. "Both traffic lights were green! That poor man can't be blamed at all!"

She shuddered as she started the engine. "Unbelievable... if I imagine what could have happened..."

Suddenly, Minako thought of something. This incident clearly reminded her of what happened back at the supermarket. Could it be that those traffic lights... were also affected by Azeroth's influence?

* * *

"You are right," her father nodded meekly. "Not too many people were supposed to know this, but... the whole city is in fact COMPUTRON's customer."

It was late in the evening, and the Aino family was having dinner together.

"You know, most of the public facilities in town are connected to our mainframe, including many important companies... and the traffic lights as well. It was supposed to be a big advertising stunt, at first we indirectly show the customer the unique processing powers of our computer system, and then everybody will be convinced to be part of our huge network. COMPUTRON's president already made plans for a worldwide use of this service... assumed that the Tokyo experiment will be a success..." He shook his head. "I never thought the affects of the rampaging program would be this disastrous. Today, the traffic lights are affected... what if by tomorrow, the subway or air control will be affected as well?"

Minako shivered. She never realized how grave the situation was. If the whole city was connected to COMPUTRON...

No! She didn't dare imagine what would happen if the program was spreading further. Somehow, she now was able to understand Xellos' determination to delete Azeroth.

But what would this mean for Amelia and the others?

Minako grimaced. No, it had been hard enough to let go, she wouldn't torture herself by making wild speculations about what might happen. There was nothing she could do to help Azeroth anymore, easy as that! And besides... if they wanted her help, why did they exile her in the first place?

* * *

That night, Minako was having another nightmare. But this time, she was able to see and hear everything in clarity.

She was walking over a barren landscape, the ground was black and littered with deep chasms and craters. Here and there, she could see the ruins of a single house rising out of the chaos, columns of smoke were rising from the devastation, and an icy wind was blowing through the ruins.

Minako was wandering across a battleground, but it was different from every battleground she had seen in her game as Lina Inverse.

No rubble was lying on the ground, no broken weapons, no dead bodies, not even scrapes of clothing or patches of blood. She could almost feel the savage battle that had been raging here some time ago, but she couldn't see anything that suggested that anyone had been fighting here. Except for the craters, the ground was completely flat. The few trees she was seeing rose up into the sky like dead, crippled fingers.

She could hear the drums of war coming from the distance. Far away, at the horizon, she could see that the battle was not over yet, as she had believed.

"No..." she whispered. "No... No more..."

Then a short flash, and she was standing in the middle of a burning village. Men, women and children were fleeing, houses were burning, horses were panicking and throwing off their riders, while everyone was fighting an enemy... an enemy she hadn't even been able to see a glimpse of up to now.

"Make it stop!" she shouted. "MAKE IT STOP!"

But it got worse. The village was dying. And then she saw the enemy they were fighting. They were not Orcs, as she had believed for a short instance. But they weren't green and had tusks... they were black and had sleek, eyeless skulls.

They were BAKs!

Millions of them!

They came across the ravaged plains like a giant, living mass of destruction. Whoever stood in their way got killed. The defenders of the Alliance fought bravely and at times even managed to stop the flood of the four-armed monsters momentarily, but not for long. And for every monster they killed, four or even ten new ones appeared. The monster consumed everything that stood in her way. Human and animal flesh, but also metal, leather, wood, cloth, rocks... they swallowed everything!

Now Minako knew what happened on that battlefield she had seen and why there were no dead bodies.

Suddenly, she could hear a chorus of surprised shouts and screeches coming from behind her. She turned around... and saw Zelgadis Greywords! The chimera warrior was sitting atop a black horse and fought with two huge blades at once, hacking away at the BAKs and shooting one of his devastating spells every now and then. He didn't just stop the monsters from proceeding, he fought them back.

And then something happened that curdled Minako's blood... Zelgadis turned around to her and shouted:

"LINA INVERSE! HELP US!"

Minako froze. This couldn't be, could it? This was a dream, so how was Zelgadis able to see her and talk to her?

"Lina Inverse!" Zelgadis shouted again. "You coward! Help us! You owe it to them! THEY ARE KILLING US!!"

And suddenly, a pair of clawed arms slashed at the chimera from behind and knocked him off his horse. A big group of the xenomorph-look-alikes piled up on him, shielding him from her gaze.

Minako let out a bloodcurdling scream... and sat up straight in her bed as she awoke with a loud gasp.

"Minako!" Artemis yelled. He was standing in front of her, on her blanket and looked at her with worry. "What's wrong with you? Minako!"

And then Minako realized she was still screaming and quickly closed her mouth. She hugged herself and shivered.

Artemis walked up to her. "Minako, are you awake? Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"No!" Minako sobbed. "No, nothing is okay! Zelgadis! Ami! They got Ami!"

The door to Minako's room opened and her parents came in, their faces marked with worry.

"Minako!" her mother shouted. "Honey! What happened? Did you have a bad dream?"

Minako shook her head. Somehow, she couldn't utter a single word, her tongue felt numb.

"It's Ami!" she finally uttered. "They got her! The BAKs have her!"

Her parents looked at each other. "Baks?" her mother asked. "What's that supposed to be?"

Her father shrugged. "I don't know, I never heard that word before..." Suddenly, he frowned. "Or maybe... maybe I did. Bugs!"

"You mean... like insects?" Mrs. Aino asked.

"Not quite," her husband tried to explain. "A bug can also be a software defect on a computer... is that what you mean, Minako?"

Minako tried to answer them, but suddenly, the modem on her computer flashed once again.

Minako stared wide-eyed at her monitor. But that was impossible! She switched it off herself. She even had pulled the cables out!

For a very short instance, the logo of Ami's mailbox appeared on the screen... but then it disappeared and gave way to a scene that came right out of Minako's nightmares!

It was the image of the burning village. The devastated land, the fleeing people and the BAKs that consumed everything.

But what scared her the most was that this wasn't just a computer graphic, it was real! The image looked so realistic that it couldn't be a computer graphic, no matter how good the processor was.

And then something even worse happened: One of the eyeless creatures turned around its ugly head and LOOKED at them. It then used its powerful hind legs to jump at them... and collided with the monitor screen from the inside. The noise was so loud that Minako's parents stepped back in surprise, and then a big bang came out of the monitor, the image vanished and smoke came out of it. The monitor tipped over... and crashed down to the floor.

Minako's father slowly turned around to face his daughter. "What... what is going on here?"

"It's really happening..." Minako whispered. "The BAKs... they kidnapped Ami."

"That... that's nonsense!" her father proclaimed and shook his head. He wasn't quite ready to believe something like that.

Still, he saw what happened. And the smoking monitor on the floor was proof that they didn't just imagine it.

"If this is a trick..." her mother muttered. "Tell me, Minako... is this one of your silly games again?"

"This isn't a game!" Minako said. "Ami was right... all of this is REALLY HAPPENING! They are destroying Azeroth! They are going to kill them all!"

"But... but that's impossible!" her father stated. His face was as white as a sheet.

Minako jumped out of her bed so quickly, that Artemis nearly fell down to the ground. "Ami! We have to call her!"

"M-minako, it's three in the morning," her mother protested. "We can't just..."

"But you saw it!" Minako shouted. "It didn't believe she could do it, but she went back. She is trying to stop them all by herself! And now they got her! You have to call her parents, they have to switch off her computer... anything!"

"Just... because the monitor is broken?" her mother asked in disbelief. She turned to her husband. "Honey, tell me: This is just one of her games, is it?"

"I'm... not too sure anymore..." her father murmured. He sighed. "Fine, I will call them. But if this is just a stupid prank..."

"PLEASE!" Minako shouted, and the urgency in her voice convinced her father not to ask any more questions and to leave the room.

Minako followed him. She watched him dial the Mizuno's number, but then he frowned. "That's strange... the line is dead."

"Oh no..." Minako gasped. "Ami... what happened to you?"

Her father looked at the phone and shrugged. He then hang up and dialed another number. He frowned. "The same as before... a dead line!"

"Who did you call?" Minako asked.

"The company... COMPUTRON. I wonder what happened that we can't reach anyone. Normally, they would take care of such a problem immediately..."

He looked past his daughter and seemed to think about something. "You know, Xellos told me they had planned to delete the program tonight. They started the preparations this morning, but the exact deadline was supposed to be midnight. I believe they already started the counter program."

"What kind of counter program?" Minako asked. Her voice was shaking. She kinda knew the answer by know, but still she was afraid of his answer.

"A virus," her father said. "A computer virus. It was Xellos' idea... quite simple, actually. We couldn't shut down or delete the program, so he designed a virus whose sole purpose it is to wipe out the program."

"What's a computer virus?" Mrs. Aino asked.

"A killer program..." Minako whispered. "A program that only exists to do harm. It replicates itself until nothing can stop it anymore."

'Just like a giant swarm of locusts,' she thought. Yes, that's what it looked like when the BAKs were swarming all over Azeroth...

"I have to go to COMPUTRON," her father said. "I have to find out what's going on there. And I think you should come with me, Minako!"

Minako nodded. "Give me just a minute, and I'll get ready."

She ran back into her room and quietly told Artemis: "Call the others! Tell them what happened and ask them to go to Ami's place. They've got to find her!"

Artemis nodded. "Got it!"

* * *

Usagi carefully tiptoed our of her room.

"Be quiet, or you'll wake them up," she whispered.

Luna grimaced. "I'm not making a much noise as you do," she hissed.

Suddenly, the door to Shingo's room opened. Usagi's brother stood there and rubbed his eyes. "What's going on?" he murmured. "Where are you going?"

"None of your business!" Usagi hissed. "Now go back to bed... and don't tell Mom!"

"I don't believe you," Shingo said with a frown. "You wanted to meet your friends, right?"

"If you must know, Minako called me... Ami is in trouble!"

Shingo scratched his head. "Are they playing that Warcraft game again?"

"I told you, that's none of your business! Now go back before Mom wakes up!"

Shingo looked at his sister sullenly. "If the people of Shingonia are in trouble, their king has to help them!"

"Back to bed! Now!" Usagi hissed. And she closed the door in her brother's face.

She sighed. "That brat... Why does he have to be such a pest?"

"Usagi, hurry!" Luna whispered.

They stepped out of the house, ran up to the street... and gaped.

The streets were full of cars, and at the junctions, chaos was reigning. The traffic lights were flashing all three colors at once, and the sirens of police cars could be heard all over town.

And it got worse while they were on their way to Ami's house... They came past a burning house, and the inhabitants tried putting out the flames out by themselves, as no telephone was working. Many shop windows they passed were dark, and in others, the light was flickering. The alarm systems of many shops were active although there were no break-ins. And a few blocks ahead, a really big fire must have broken out, as they could see the night sky gleaming in a creepy tone of red.

"What's happening, Luna?" Usagi whimpered. "Why is all of this happening?"

"I... I couldn't quite understand what Artemis was trying to tell me... but I think there was some kind of malfunction at COMPUTRON, and that's why the whole city is in turmoil. Ami.. maybe she found out the true reason why this is happening..."

Usagi whined. "We have to find her, Luna! Quickly!"

Her feline advisor nodded. "I agree. Let's hurry!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Minako and her father arrived at the huge COMPUTRON complex. At the front gate, the gate keeper stopped them.

"We have an emergency situation," he said. "Entry is forbidden until..." He then leaned forward and recognized Mr. Aino. "Oh, it's you, sir! Sorry about that, you may pass!"

He opened the gate and they drove in. Shortly afterwards, they were on their way to he top floor. They had to use the stairs, as the elevators weren't working.

When they finally arrived, they saw a big amount of people standing in front of a door.

"What the..." her father muttered. "Hey, that's my office!"

Another man waded through the crowd until he reached them. It was Ami's father.

"Give me your keys!" he shouted. "QUICKLY!"

Mr. Aino pulled his keys out of his pocket. "What happened? What's going on there?"

Mr. Mizuno grabbed the keys and went back to the door. Minako and her father followed him.

"It's Ami!" Mr. Mizuno explained. "She has locked herself in there and doesn't open!"

"Ami?" Minako shouted in disbelief.

"But what's she doing here?" her father asked. "In MY office?"

"I don't know," Ami's father replied.

"Your terminal..." Minako suddenly muttered. "Your computer... it's connected directly to the mainframe, right?" She shook her head. "She told me what she was trying to do, but I never thought she would do it here."

"But why is she using my computer?" her father wondered. "Why not her father's?"

"Because she doesn't know his password," Minako winced. "But yours, she knows. And I fear it's kinda my fault... she must have hacked her way into my program."

"And you used my password to hack into the mainframe yourself to play your game," her father sighed. "And now she's back there! In that game!"

"It's not a game anymore, don't you understand?" Minako asked.

"That's nonsense!" a voice behind them spoke up.

They turned around and saw the face of Xellos.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" Mr. Aino bellowed. "Did you take a look outside? The city in in chaos!"

Xellos shrugged. "Just a few technical difficulties. We'll take care of it. But what are you doing here?"

Her father ignored the question. "A few technical difficulties? The whole town is in turmoil! This looks more like an apocalypse than just a small problem."

"You shouldn't talk about things you don't understand," Xellos said sternly. "And now I would be happy if you took your daughter out of here and help us. This is a critical situation and we need every man... even you!"

Mr. Aino glared at the purple-haired technician angrily, but then Minako quickly said: "It's okay, I'll be fine. You go with him, I'll look for Ami."

Her father hesitated for a while, then he nodded and followed Xellos.

Minako ran back to the door of her father's office, which was still closed. Ami's father tried opening it with the key, but it didn't seem to work.

"It's stuck!" Mr. Mizuno said in a panicking voice. "How are we going to get in there?"

"Step aside, I'll handle this!" a firm voice said behind them.

Everyone turned around in surprise... and saw a red-skirted Senshi standing behind them.

"It's Sailor Mars," a few people muttered, but they did what she said.

Minako smiled. She was glad that Rei was here, although she was still worried about Ami.

Mars took aim. "BURNING MANDALA!" Her fiery rings flew through the air and destroyed the door. A helpful man quickly put out the fire with an extinguisher.

Mr. Mizuno quickly ran into the room, followed by Minako and Sailor Mars.

"Ami!" he shouted. "Switch off that computer! Ami..."

He stopped himself when he saw the inside of the room.

The computer did not just smoke, it was completely burnt out. The computer itself, the monitor, the chair, parts of the desk itself and the expensive headgear had been reduced to a smoldering piece of junk.

And Ami... was gone!

"But... but this is impossible..." her father murmured. "The room was locked, there is no other exit and there were at least two dozens of people on the corridor. They would have noticed if she came out. Where did she go?"

"I know it..." Minako said quietly.

Mars and Mr. Mizuno looked at her in surprise.

"But where?"

"The distributing center!" Minako replied.

Sailor Mars looked at Ami's father. "Please, show us the way!"

* * *

Minako had never been in the distributing center of COMPUTRON, the room where everything was controlled from, but what she saw when she came inside surpassed even her wildest imaginations.

The room was huge and filled with all kinds of modern technology, enormous computer screens, a huge amount of consoles and control panels, and at least half of the wall that was on the other side of the room was covered with a single, enormous monitor.

On this monitor, as well as on every other monitor in the room, she could see the same image:

She saw the burning city, the fleeing people and the swarm of snapping jaws and tearing claws.

But this time, it was the capital which was burning: The BAKs were attacking Lordaeron!

"Stop it!" Minako shouted as loud as she could. "You have to stop this at once!"

No one had noticed her, Sailor Mars and Ami's father entering the room, but now everyone looked at them in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Xellos shouted angrily. "No unauthorized entry permitted!"

"I let them in," Ami's father frowned.

"Then make sure they'll leave at once! Are you insane? You know the big risk we are taking here."

"Seems that I don't know it at all," Mr. Mizuno said and looked at the monitor. "What are you doing here?"

"We're doing what we should have done a long time ago," Xellos replied. "We are stopping that damn game that almost ruined us all."

Sailor Mars shook her head. "That... doesn't look like a game to me," she said.

"What do young girls like you know about this stuff?" Xellos asked. "There are no Youmas to slay here, so get out of here!"

"She is right," Minako's father suddenly said. "This isn't a game."

"What are you saying?" Mr. Mizuno asked.

"It's not an illusion anymore," Minako's father said. "I don't know how, but somehow, all of this became reality."

"That's nonsense!" Xellos snapped. "Can someone finally throw these crazy kids and that stubborn father out of here?"

"You knew it," Minako realized. "You knew since you were there, am I right?"

Xellos didn't reply, and she went on: "You knew it from that moment on when you and your colleagues came to Azeroth and met the Burning Blade Clan."

Xellos still didn't reply, so Minako asked her father: "And you?"

"I had no idea, Minako," her father said quietly. "Not until I saw this image..."

"Is that true?" Mr. Mizuno asked. It has gotten very quiet inside the big room. All of the men and women who had been working frantically at the computers just seconds ago seemed to hold their breaths.

"What was I supposed to do?" Xellos finally asked. "We had to stop the program!"

"Then the girl was right and you KNEW?" Ami's father asked with disbelief. "But how is that possible? This is only a computer program!"

"How should I know?" Xellos grimaced and gestured at Minako. "Why don't you ask little Miss wannabe-Einstein over there how she did it?"

"That's not important now, Xellos," Mr. Aino said. "You have to stop it, Xellos!"

"What?" Xellos asked in outrage.

"Your virus! There are humans dying there! Hundreds of them, in every minute. Maybe thousands of them! Put it to an end! NOW!"

"I can't," Xellos murmured.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Minako stuttered.

Xellos shrugged. "I can't stop it. It's too late. Nobody can stop it."

"And what about Ami?" Mr. Mizuno asked desperately. "My daughter! She is over there!"

"What? That's impossible!" Xellos said.

"No, it's not," Minako said. "Zelgadis Greywords! Don't you remember? The chimera warrior? Ami has gone back to help Khadgar, Amelia and the others, and the BAKs have attacked her. I saw it!"

"Stop it!" Ami's father said pleadingly. "No matter how, but I'm begging you: DO SOMETHING!"

"I can't..." Xellos whispered. Suddenly, his face had grown pale. "It's too late, you know that. Nobody can stop a virus upon reaching this point."

"Not even in here?" Sailor Mars asked. "From what I heard, you were the one who created it, right?"

Xellos stayed silent, but suddenly one of the other technicians stood up. "Perhaps there is a possibility. If we get rid of the virus' origin..."

"Be quiet, you fool!" Xellos shouted. "You don't know what you are talking about!"

"Maybe I don't," the man said hastily. "But I know what THIS is!" He gestured at the monitor. "This is murder! We don't have the right to just kill all of these innocent creatures!"

Xellos wanted to protest, but then another technician spoke up: "Nobody knows how it happened, but all of these beings... are alive! We have to help them, somehow!"

"Stop the virus, Xellos!" Minako's father said sternly. "RIGHT NOW!!"

But the purple-haired man still didn't seem to be convinced, so Mr. Aino added: "You know what happens if this virus is getting out of control, Xellos? Then all of Tokyo will turn into a madhouse! I don't want to be in your place when the authorities find out that you are responsible for this..."

"Or if something happens to Ami..." Mr. Mizuno added coldly.

For a while, Xellos just stared at them, but then he turned around and his fingers quickly darted across the control panels.

Minako looked at the monitor. The battle for Lordaeron was getting more and more intense. The gryphon riders were the main reason why the BAKs still weren't able to overrun the defenders of the capital, but even those majestic creatures weren't invincible. Minako saw how a group of BAKs pulled one of the flying creatures to the ground, and it vanished under a pile of snapping jaws, fangs and thrashing tails.

"Xellos, hurry up!" Minako pleaded. "They can't hold on for much longer!"

"It... it's not working..." the technician muttered. "I can't stop it... I lost access to the program!"

Everyone looked at the small screen Xellos was sitting in front of. In disbelief, Minako stared at the flashing, green message: 'ACCESS DENIED'.

"Are you telling me you forgot your own password?" Sailor Mars asked.

"Of course not," Xellos said. "Somebody must have changed it. But no worries, I'll find a way..."

"Well, I hope for your and all of our sakes," one of the other technicians said. "If what I'm seeing here is correct, we are in deep trouble!"

"You don't say!" Xellos said in a mocking tone of voice.

The technician ignored the mocking and leaned towards Xellos. "They are on the Internet!"

Minako could watch how every last bit of color was drained from Xellos' face. "What... what are you saying...?" he croaked.

"The virus," the man said. "Your BAKs or whatever they are called... they managed to escape the city network. I managed to contact New York, Berlin and Sidney. All of these cities report the appearance of a new, uncontrollable computer virus. It hasn't done much damage yet, but it's spreading."

"Then we only have one choice," Xellos said grimly and turned around. "Prepare everything for a complete shutdown!"

"What are you saying?" Minako's father gasped.

"We'll switch of the whole system," Xellos said. "Here, at the market, in town... everywhere!"

"But... but you can't do that!" Minako protested. "It would kill them!" She pointed at the monitor. "You would sacrifice a complete race! An entire world!"

"I know," Xellos said. "But maybe I can save ours. They aren't our problem anymore. I never thought it possible, but the virus escaped our system. And the consequences could be dire... you see, normal anti-virus programs won't work on them. The BAKs are created to detect all kinds of dangers, and to react accordingly."

"Are you telling me you... you created an INTELLIGENT VIRUS, you madman?"

"I'm afraid so," Xellos nodded. "And that means that no one will be able to stop it, once it spreads. But if we shut down the system, we can still stop it."

"And what about Ami?" Mr. Mizuno asked with a shaky voice. "What will happen to her? She is in there, you know?"

"You want to find her?" Minako's father asked. "You don't even know where to start searching."

"Well, that is not the biggest problem," Xellos shrugged and leaned over the control panel. He entered:

Search - Zelgadis Greywords

After a moment, the screen flickered, and they could see a different scene. It was a room that looked very familiar to Minako. It was the old laboratory of Xellos and his colleagues, back when they were still in Azeroth. But the room was swarming with BAKs. All tables, and everything that was on them, was destroyed. The only thing that was still intact was the giant copper tank and the end of the room.

"The black tower," Minako murmured.

"The UNIVERSE!" Xellos said at the same time.

"The... the supermarket?" Sailor Mars asked in disbelief.

Xellos nodded. "Yes, it's main computer is the most advanced one in the whole city... except for ours in here. I figured it would just be logical to use it to start the virus."

"But what about Ami?" Mr. Mizuno asked.

Xellos gestured at a certain spot on the screen, and one of the technicians focussed on the image, zooming in.

It was Zelgadis. He was still alive, but chained to the tower's wall. He also was conscious, as he was throwing all kinds of insults at the BAKs.

"That... that is Ami?" her father murmured.

Minako grinned. "Well, when she plays the role of Zelgadis, she plays it well, does she?" She and Mars exchanged a quick smirk.

"If she's in there, you won't have enough time to get her out of there," Xellos said. "We don't have enough time either. We have to switch off the system!"

Minako and her father wanted to stop him, but it was too late. Xellos entered a few words into the computer, pressed the ENTER button...

And nothing happened. Xellos frowned and tried it again, but to no avail.

Then one of the technicians let out a scream and gestured at the monitor.

All of the BAKs which had been wandering aimlessly through the laboratory, had stopped. And they were all looking at the screen.

They were looking at THEM!

"Oh my god!" Minako's father murmured. "They know it. They know what we are doing!"

Before anyone could react, one of the BAKs did the same thing Minako had witnessed before. It jumped at the screen with a shrill screech, and everyone could hear the dull thud as it collided with the screen. Everyone flinched, as if they feared that the BAK would break through the monitor in a shower of glass shards.

And then, the monitor went dark. A few seconds later, they once again saw the battle in front of the gates of Lordaeron.

"What was that?" Xellos gasped.

"What I was afraid of, you madman!" Minako's father spat. "They noticed the danger and reacted in time. You can't switch off the computers anymore."

"Just see if I can..." Xellos said darkly. "We'll just switch off the electricity."

"But wait a minute..." Minako said. "Isn't there a possibility? Can't we still beat the BAKs?"

"Even if one of them is destroyed, there will be dozens more of them," Xellos said. "You saw it back at the tower, right? The more we destroy, the more we get."

"And if we change that?" Minako asked.

Xellos stared at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Back in the laboratory, you did something, and the BAKs changed. Can't you do that again?"

"I just changed a few parameters of the program," Xellos said. Then realization dawned upon his face. "I see," he said. "You mean we should..."

"We should give your virus a virus," Minako nodded. "We change the program so they won't reproduce anymore. The Alliance's troops can finish them off, if they lose their 'immortality'. It would take some time, but Azeroth would be saved."

"And Ami would be free," Sailor Mars added.

"But it won't work!" Xellos said in desperation. "You saw it: We can't even get at the main program. Our connections are severed."

"And if I go there directly?" Minako asked.

"You won't go back there!" her father said in a stern voice. "Did you see how many of these beasts are in there?"

"Not the black tower," Minako shook her head. "But the UNIVERSE! You installed the system there yourself, that's just what you told me. The BAKs may be able to block all computer connections, but I doubt they can hinder me from inserting a disk or CD into the computer at the supermarket."

"So, what are we waiting for?" Sailor Mars asked.


	12. Minako Inverse

With a grim face, Xellos gave Sailor Mars a CD. "This is all the necessary data you'll need. Just insert the CD and run the program. Think you can handle it?"

"I might just be able to," Mars grimaced. "Even if it doesn't include blasting Youma..."

"You'll recognize the main terminal right away," Minako's father said. "But you'll need a password. It is..."

"Wait, don't say anything, lemme guess," Minako said. "It is... THE MAGIC WORD... isn't it?"

Her father was dumbfounded. "How'd you know...?"

"Don't ask..." Minako quickly said. "Well, we should go quickly, before..."

"Now wait a minute!" her father said sternly. "You are not going in there!"

"But Dad!" Minako protested. "I started it... I'm the one who should finish it, right?"

"It's too dangerous," her father said. "Leave this to the Sailor Senshi. They are superheroes! You are not!"

"But I am..." Before Minako could finish the sentence, Sailor Mars put a gloved hand on her mouth.

"Don't worry, sir! I'll make sure she gets home safely before I contact my team mates. Nothing will happen to her."

Mr. Aino smiled. "Well, it's good to hear she's in such capable hands. Good luck!"

"And please..." Mr. Mizuno intervened. "Try to bring back my Ami..."

"No problem!" Mars winked and pulled Minako after her. "Shall we go?"

* * *

Only a quick call and a couple of roof-hops later...

"I wonder whatever my Dad would say that I didn't go home after all..." Sailor Venus said with remorse.

"Well, I said nothing would happen to you," Mars shrugged. "We just have to make sure that you come back safely, and all is fine."

"I just wonder why we should worry..." Sailor Jupiter mumbled. "I mean, we just have to enter a deserted supermarket and put a CD into a computer, that's all."

Venus grimaced. "I don't know... this is just too easy. I just know they are up to something..."

"Who do you mean?" Sailor Moon asked.

Before Venus could reply, they got distracted by a shimmering image that appeared on the UNIVERSE's rooftop.

It was a dark monster with four arms and a blade-tipped tail.

It only was there for an instance, but the Senshi could clearly recognize the creature up there.

"What the...?" Mars gasped. "How is that possible? They are just data... how can they exist in our world?"

"Seems like I was right," Venus frowned. "They have some tricks up their sleeves..."

"Um... they don't have any sleeves!" Sailor Moon pointed out.

The other three Senshi sweatdropped.

They jumped down to the empty parking lot of the supermarket and carefully approached the entrance. Nothing happened, so they went inside.

Jupiter looked around. "No one's here... this is just your normal, deserted supermarket entrance hall."

Sailor Moon frowned. "The only things that are missing are the bright lights and the many customers, and I would believe I was just going shopping again with my Mom..."

"With one difference," Minako pointed out. "The elevators aren't working..."

Usagi groaned. "So that means we have to take the escalators?" she whined.

"Looks like it," Rei shrugged. "The non-moving escalators..."

"Maybe, maybe not," the Senshi of Mars said. "I don't want to take any chances..." And she grabbed one of the shopping carts that were standing around and pushed it on the lowest step of the escalator.

With a sudden jerk, the whole escalator started moving, and the shopping cart was hurled upwards by the sudden force. It flew through the air, twisting wildly, and landed on the upper gallery of the supermarket with a loud crash.

Venus gulped. "M-maybe I'll just climb up with my Love-Me-Chain..."

"Don't worry, I have a fool-proof way to deal with stubborn technology," Jupiter grinned and aimed at the small control box at the lower end of the escalator.

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" she shouted, and her blast of electricity flashed directly into the device, short-circuiting it within seconds. With a low hum that almost sounded like a human sigh, the escalator stopped.

Jupiter grinned. "See? Easy as pie!"

Venus looked at her fellow Senshi. "Mako-chan, please remind me never to let you repair anything in my house..."

Nervously, they walked up the now harmless escalator. Minako looked down at the ridges in its steps and got a feeling of familiarity...

"This is just like inside the black tower..." she mumbled.

They reached the top of the escalator and Mars said: "Okay then, we're almost there."

But just as all of her team mates had stepped off the escalator, a shrill sound came from all directions at once, and all the lights in the room started flashing.

"Now what's going on?" Sailor Moon asked as she jumped back, startled by the sudden noise.

"The salutatory concert," Minako said grimly. "Looks like they are looking forward to our visit..."

And then one of the big display windows broke apart in a shower of glass shards, and a big amount of tiny shapes came zipping, rolling and flying at them.

"What are THOSE?" Jupiter gasped.

"Toys," Mars grimaced. "Remote-controlled vehicles... seems like your BAKs have learned to use electronic devices that aren't attached to a computer at all, Minako!"

Rei was right: The small vehicles that were attacking them were tiny cars, airplanes, trucks and even a small tank, with sparks coming out of his tiny gun.

Usagi yelped as the first of the vehicles, a small yellow jeep, tried ramming her feet. She clumsily stumbled over the car and it slammed against the gallery's balustrade, where it tipped over and stayed where it was, it's tiny wheels spinning wildly.

Rei attacked the flying attackers with a cry of "FIRE SOUL!"

The next attacker was the tank. It headed straightly towards Minako, but she grabbed it and lifted it up from the ground. The top part spun around and the cannon painfully hit Minako's wrist. With an angry yell, she hurled it through the air and finished it with a Crescent Beam.

Finally, all of the attackers were finished. "Is that all they got?" Jupiter asked mockingly. "That was barely a challenge!"

Just then, another display window broke apart, and a much bigger device came rolling towards them. It almost looked like a small tractor, but on its front there was a black plastic box in which the Senshi could see a pair of rapidly spinning, sharp blades.

"What is that thing?" Venus asked, horrified.

"A lawn mower," Jupiter shouted. "Remote-controlled! All the rage on the market!"

The lawn mower rolled along the gallery, but it looked as if his aiming was a little off, as he wasn't heading for the four girls, but for the balustrade.

But then the plastic box on its front broke apart and they saw the reason for this action: Now that the box was gone, the razor sharp blades were set free... and were turned into deadly weapons!

"Look out!" Venus shouted as the lawn mower attacked. It's target was Usagi, and the Senshi clearly could see that their leader and princess would not be able to jump over the rampaging machine in time...

"SHOOT THAT THING!" Mars yelled and called forth her Flame Sniper Bow.

"No, don't!" Minako shouted. "You'll hit Sailor Moon!"

But it was Sailor Jupiter who saved the day. With a battle cry, she jumped on top of the murderous device, reached for the small steering wheel and turned it around.

The lawn mower bucked wildly and nearly threw the Senshi of Jupiter off its back. But just before the out-of-control machine collided with the wall, Makoto jumped off. She also gave it a final present: "Jupiter Oak Evolution!"

The lawn mower exploded in a loud burst of plastic shards and scrap metal.

Sailor Moon sighed in relief. "Phew, that was close... thanks, Jupiter!"

"No problem!" Jupiter said. She then looked at her friends. "Um, just curious: They don't sell any cruise missiles in here, do they?"

Suddenly, all of the flashing lights went dark. The siren also went silent.

"What's happening?" Usagi wondered.

"Xellos..." Minako snarled. "I knew he doesn't have faith in our abilities. They switched off the power supply..."

But then, just as sudden as it got dark, the lights were reactivated.

"This must be the UNIVERSE's emergency backup generator," Rei said. "I think every big market has such a thing in the cellar..."

"That will give us some time," Minako shouted. "Let's hurry!"

While they ran through the corridor that looked almost exactly like its counterpart within the black tower, Minako grimaced. "I think Xellos is afraid... he doesn't think we'll be able to do it. He may have created these things, but if they manage to get in the Internet, it won't matter if the master program still exists... they will be unstoppable!"

They ran along the dark floor. Here, in the UNIVERSE, the corridor was leading to many different offices. Minako doubted there would be any bad surprises be waiting for them in here.

At least not on this side of reality...

Minako noticed it about a second before it happened. For a short instance, everything went dark, and when they could see again, they weren't in the office corridor in the supermarket anymore... They were in the Black Tower!

"What the...?" Rei shouted in surprise and therefore proved that this wasn't just an illusion. They were really in Azeroth. Through the windows, they could hear the noises of a big battle. That meant they had to face all of the dangers this world had to offer.

One of these dangers was black, had four arms, an eyeless skull and was standing a few steps away from them. They were in luck... the BAK didn't notice them at first. But then it lifted his ugly head and looked around as if it was catching their scent. It spun around... and ran at them with a shrill screech.

Once again, the light flickered... and they were back in the UNIVERSE.

But the BAK stayed.

Makoto screamed as the nightmarish creature ran past her, slashing at her with its arms. Minako gulped... she had seen what a hit of these monsters could do, and Makoto's fuku didn't protect her for mortal wounds, at least not as good as the thick stone skin of Zelgadis...

"This is impossible!" Rei gasped. "How can they exist here?"

The four-armed beast turned around, let out another blood-curling screech and attacked yet again...

Only to be hit with the spiky head of the biggest mace Minako had ever seen. A tall, muscular figure had appeared behind the BAK. Minako saw green skin and sharp tusks.

The blow threw the BAK backwards, and it stumbled to the ground. Before it could stand back up, the Orc came after it and killed it by smashing its ugly head with his massive war hammer.

When he turned around to face the Senshi, Minako recognized him. "Doomhammer..." she murmured. "Orgrim Doomhammer! But how did you...?"

The warchief of the Horde lowered his weapon and gestured at the end of the corridor, where they could see the door that was leading to the computer center. "Go!" he said in his grumbling voice. "Go and finish it! We'll try to fight them off as long as we can!"

And then he was gone. He and the BAKs body turned into a pair of smoky shadows, then they disappeared.

Minako was speechless. The scene they had just witnessed had proved one thing: The barrier between the worlds was thinner than they thought. No longer was a computer needed to wander between the worlds. No longer could only visitors from Earth go to Azeroth.

Venus looked at her friends. "Do you... do you know what this means?" she muttered.

Jupiter grimaced. "I only know that we don't have much more time left, so we should do what this guy said and go to the computer center!"

Sailor Moon nodded. "Yes, Ami's waiting for us!"

Minako nodded back. "Okay... then let's go!"

* * *

When they reached the door to the computer center, reality was just taking a jump back to Azeroth. Minako was once again standing in front of the huge metal door with the gargoyle face on it. But by now, the face looked pretty thrashed. Despite being made of metal, one of its eyes was swollen shut, and its right cheek had a nasty scar.

"Hold it, strangers!" it hollered. "If you want to enter, you have to..." It blinked, then let out a sigh when it recognized Minako. "You again?"

"Please, just let me through," Minako groaned. "I'll even tell you THE MAGIC WORD if you want."

"Did I ask you for it?" the gargoyle nagged. "But sure, do whatever you want. By now, everyone is coming or leaving as they wish..." While he continued to gripe, the door slowly opened.

Minako took in a deep breath before looking at her friends. "Okay, guys... this is it."

They entered. Reality flashed again, and they finally were inside the computer center. Just as its counterpart in the black tower, the laboratory, had been, it was ravaged. Many desks have fallen over and most of the technical devices were broken. Here and there, they could smoke rising out of the broken computers.

But on the other side of the big room, they could see one enormous computer which almost reached to the ceiling. This must be the central computer of the UNIVERSE.

A sudden noise made them turn around in surprise... and then they saw the creatures that were responsible for the room's desolation.

They were three BAKs, which were tearing up the rest of the room. They did not only damage the desks and the computer equipment, but also slashed their claws across the wall paneling and tried hitting the lamps that were dangling from the ceiling.

"Well," Jupiter sighed. "Question of the day: How are we going to get past these things?"

Usagi yelped in surprise, when the light flashed again and they found themselves back in the dark tower, and in the ravaged laboratory in which Minako had met Xellos for the first time. She could see the enormous copper tank that was standing across the room... and then the images started flashing before her eyes as if the realities didn't seem to agree which one should have its turn. Minako saw the copper tank, but also the main computer of the UNIVERSE.

And at the same time, the CD she was carrying with her seemed to change as well. She saw the little CD, but at the same time, something else, something that looked like a magical artifact. A crystal, maybe? Or a big pearl?

Then, reality seemed to come to a decision, as the flashes ended and they were back in the computer center... and in the company of the three BAKs.

And they were looking at them.

Usagi's shriek had attracted their attention, and they didn't look too happy. Two of them didn't seem to be too sure about what they were supposed to do, but the third one slowly approached them with a menacing hiss.

"Venus, go!" Mars shouted. "We'll distract them, you try to reach the computer!"

"Got it!" Venus nodded... and started running.

At the same time, her friends were throwing their attacks.

"SUPREME THUNDER!"

"BURNING MANDALA!"

"MOON SPIRAL HEART ATTACK!"

Minako ran across the room, jumping over broken furniture, diving under snapping jaws and tightly holding on to the CD.

The computer center vanished around them and they found themselves back in the laboratory... but the BAKs stayed.

Minako yelped when a lamp came crashing down from the ceiling. She looked at the item she was carrying: The CD had turned into a yellow, glowing crystal, about the size of a melon.

Only a short distance now... she almost made it to the copper tank...

"MINAKO!" a familiar-sounding voice screamed. "LOOK OUT!"

Minako instinctively ducked... and barely managed to evade the claws of the BAK that had attacked her. Still, she couldn't keep her balance and fell to the ground, while the crystal was rolling over to the other side of the room.

Minako glanced up... and saw the four-armed xenomorph standing right above her, saliva dripping from it's double jaws.

'I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadie...' were her frantic thoughts.

She closed her eyes. 'If only... I were as strong as Lina Inverse... I could really use her powers right now.'

Suddenly, she felt a surge of power running through her veins. She gasped as she felt the energy and was lifted off the ground.

Trails of light were running along her body, changing her sailor fuku into a different set of clothes. A hairband appeared around her skull, while a black cape was draped over her shoulders. On her ears, she could feel the weight of familiar-looking, spherical earrings...

She spread her fingers and looked at the gloves she was wearing in awe. Now she recognized it... along with the power she was feeling.

It was the power of Lina Inverse.

Still, as she looked at her hair that was waving around her, it was still the same blonde as previously. While she had gained Lina's clothes and powers, her body was still the same.

But she was satisfied with what she had. She grinned. "All right, you ugly creeps! It's time to kick bubblegum and chew butt, and I'm all out of butt! Minako Inverse is in the house!"

Usagi winced when she heard that. "Minako, it's supposed to be: 'It's time to chew bubblegum and kick butt, and...'"

"FIREBALL!" the Senshi sorceress shouted and fired the spell. The BAK screeched in pain as the flames scorched his skin.

Minako grinned. "Oh, how I love this spell!"

Mars looked at her with envy. "This fireball even puts my Mars Flame Sniper to shame..." she muttered.

"Don't stand just there!" Jupiter shouted. "Get that thing and put it into the computer... um, I mean... that shiny copper thing over there!"

"Roger!" Minako saluted and skipped over the BAK's head. She picked up the crystal and turned around...

And yelped when she saw the sharp blades on another BAK's tail tip coming at her.

"FREEZE ARROW!" the familiar voice shouted, and suddenly, the BAK's tail got encased in ice and cracked. The creature howled in pain.

Minako stared at the figure that was standing near the broken manacles that had previously been hanging from the other wall. It was Ami... but she was wearing Zelgadis' cloak... and her face looked like it was made of stone.

"Hurry up!" the chimera Senshi shouted.

Minako nodded and ran towards the tank. The BAK near her wanted to stop her, but Ami attacked it with her sword.

She reached it at the same moment when the entry doors broke off their hinges, and a stream of warriors entered the room.

She saw humans fighting alongside Orcs. Elven Rangers standing next to Troll Headhunters. Dwarves fighting alongside Goblins.

I was a sight to behold, as the troops of both Horde and Alliance were working together to fight the bigger enemy of both. The sudden appearance of the warriors did not only surprise Minako, but the BAKs as well.

And then Minako saw her chance. Before anyone or anything could do anything else, she let out a loud yell... and slammed the crystal into the small opening in the tank's side.

* * *

Minako didn't lose consciousness, but for a certain amount of time, she just drifted on the edge of a black nothingness. Dark veils were waving in front of her dizzy eyes, and they only vanished when somebody shook her gently.

"Minako! Minako, are you all right?"

She looked up at saw the worried face of Ami, still with the rocky face of a chimera.

"I'm not... hurt," Minako croaked and stood up from the ground. "Really, I'm fine!"

"You all came to rescue me?" Ami asked and looked around. Rei smiled, Makoto gave her a smirk, while Usagi looked as if she was going to break out in tears any moment.

Then they concentrated on more serious matters. The troops of the Orcs and humans fought bravely against the BAKs, but still the black creatures were formidable opponents. When Minako looked outside, she could see that the former camp of the Burning Blades was a black sea of the four-armed creatures.

But now that they had lost their regenerative abilities...

Minako grinned. "What are we waiting for? We can't let them do all of the work by themselves! Let's finish them off!"

"Let's just hope your new powers will be able to handle that many at once," Mars said as she looked at Ami's and Minako's outfits.

Ami and Minako chuckled. "Just wait and see, Rei-chan!" Ami giggled. "Just wait and see!"

* * *

The battle didn't last as long as they had feared. The final BAK fell under the thrown hammer of a gryphon rider, just as the sun was setting.

Orcs, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Trolls and Goblins were walking across the battlefield, to make sure that the horrible creatures that had plagued their world would stay down.

Minako let out a sigh as she and her friends came out of the dark tower. Many of the different creatures around them, all those members of the different races of Azeroth, looked at them, not sure what to say. They could see a few angry faces, but most of the Horde and Alliance warriors were treating them with respect, even saluting them or giving them short bows.

Usagi watched them in confusion. "What's going on? What does that mean?"

Ami smiled as she said: "It seems as if we have redeemed ourselves."

Makoto looked at her. "Ami, you still haven't told us why you are looking like this. Don't tell me this has been your character in that game..."

"Not quite," Ami explained. "I think it has something to do with the momentary merging of the worlds, which also explained why the BAKs were able to enter our world. But somehow our hero characters have merged with our real selves, creating these new images. And we can take them on every time we are here, on Azeroth."

"That's so cool!" Usagi gushed. "Can I do that too?"

"That's... highly unlikely, Usagi," Ami said in an apologetic voice. "Because you never had a character in this version of the game."

"Awww..." the leader of the Senshi whined.

"So, does that mean that the two worlds have separated from each other?" Mars asked.

Ami nodded. "I think so. Azeroth is now an independent world, even if we can still access it, using our computers. I wonder how the people of Azeroth will react to all of this..."

"Well, it seems like we are just about to find out," Minako gulped and gestured at the narrow pathway that the troops were forming.

Down this pathway they could see a group of imposing figures approaching. Orgrim Doomhammer's broad shoulders contrasted to the armored figure of Gourry Gabriev. Archmage Khadgar was walking next to Kurdran Wildhammer. And in their middle, Princess (now Queen) Amelia Wil Tesla Lothar was smiling at the Senshi.

When the small group reached the heroic girls, Amelia gave them a courteous bow. "Greetings, warriors from another world!"

"Um... hi there!" Sailor Moon waved uncertainly.

Amelia looked at Minako. "Good to see you again, Miss Lina... or is it Minako?"

"Uh, a little bit of both, I'd say," Minako chuckled nervously as she looked down at her outfit. "But let's just stay with Minako for now."

Amelia was watching the blonde sorceress-Senshi intently, then she smiled. "So you did it! You saved our worlds! Thank you!"

"Um, we... we couldn't have done it without your help," Minako muttered. "I mean... how...?" She gulped, started anew and asked: "How is it possible that Orcs and Humans are fighting on the same side?"

"Sometimes we have to work together to reach a mutual goal," Khadgar said. "Even if it's difficult," he added after a while.

"Besides," Doomhammer added with his grumbling voice. "I kinda felt pity for the humans. We couldn't just let those creatures slaughter them."

Kurdran looked at the Orc angrily, and Doomhammer replied with a low growl, but somehow Minako believed that both of them didn't quite mean it like that.

But an Orc who was making JOKES? Inconceivable!

"I see your surprised face," Doomhammer chuckled with an amused grin. "You remember us as the savage beasts that only invaded the humans' land to their own advantages... Yes, that's what most of us believe as well. But by now, we know better than that. We didn't really come from this world called Draenor, even if we can remember it... you must now, you are the one who created us, right?"

Minako looked at him and gasped. They knew? They knew she was responsible for everything that happened?

"About your question who brought us together, well, I can tell you that," Gourry said with a smirk and stepped aside to reveal a tiny figure with huge ears.

"G-gobbo?" Minako stuttered.

The goblin grimaced. "I TOLD YOU WE WOULD MEET AGAIN, IDIOT NO ONE ESCAPES FROM GOBBO THE TERRIBLE!" He smirked while he was shouting these words.

"We have been talking for a long time after you left," Amelia explained. "It wasn't easy to trust the Orcs, but we realized that it was even harder for the Orcs to trust us. But after we learned about how our world really came to be, we decided to send a messenger to Doomhammer."

"Did he eat him?" Minako asked.

Khadgar gasped and paled, but Doomhammer laughed in a resounding voice.

"No..." Khadgar finally said. "He listened to us. And after we saw what happened to Cho'gall and the Burning Blade Clan..."

"What happened to them?" Minako asked.

Kurdran shrugged. "They don't exist anymore. The black creatures have killed them, every single one of them."

"So you joined forces to defeat the BAKs?" Ami guessed.

"It wasn't that easy," Amelia said. "But in the end, we beat them, that's true, Mr. Zelgadis... or should I call you MISS AMI?"

Ami stuttered. "B-but how did you find out...?"

Amelia smiled. "We now know everything about you. We found Xellos' notes in the rubble of the tower. We know who you are, where you are coming from and why you created us."

Minako looked at the young princess with a shocked expression and wanted to say something, but Amelia took her hand. "What happened just happened. Mistakes are there so you can learn from them. Nobody here will accuse you of anything, and nobody except of those present will learn about what happened."

"We... we just thought it was a harmless game..." Minako mumbled. "Please, forgive me..."

"Then you are a pretty naive race of humans," Khadgar frowned. "Crimes that you commit in your mind can be as terrible as those that you do for real."

"I'm sorry," Minako said again. "Please, if there is anything I can do to help..."

"You already did enough," Amelia said. "You and your friends helped saving our world. We will take care of everything else." She looked sad as she continued. "I want you to leave now."

"Leave? B-but can we come back?"

"Eventually, some time in the future," Amelia said. "But now we have to recover from the events that tore our land apart. It will be difficult, but we will be able to handle it. One day, when Azeroth is as beautiful as it had once been, we might see each other again."

"And... how will we get in contact with you?" Ami asked.

Gourry grinned. "We will get in contact with you."

Minako nodded and bowed a last time, as an apology and as a way to say goodbye to her friends from this strange new world.

But before Amelia and the others turned around to leave, she spoke up one last time: "C-can I say goodbye to Gobbo?"

Kurdran and Khadgar looked at each other in confusion, but Amelia smiled and nodded. Then she and Gourry left, followed by the mage and the dwarf. Doomhammer walked after them, but before he left, he turned around his head and gave them a sly sneer.

Minako sighed. "Well, Gobbo, you heard them... I just wanna..."

"OH, SAVE YOUR BREATH, BLONDIE!" Gobbo yelled in his usual sound volume. "I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO SAY!"

Minako blinked. "What... what are you saying?"

Gobbo grinned. "WE HAVE MUCH TO DISCUSS AS SOON AS WE GET BACK HOME, MINAKO! ESPECIALLY YOUR BEHAVIOR TOWARDS THOSE WHO ARE YOUNGER THAN YOU!"

And after Gobbo said these words, his body changed. In the end, he wasn't as spindly as before, his skin turned from green to tan and his ears were much smaller.

"AND ALSO WHAT YOU DID TO SHINGONIA!" he yelled.

"Sh-shingo?" Usagi stuttered. "What... what are you doing here?"

"It's the brat!" Minako shouted in surprise.

Shingo grinned. "We'll talk about this later... but did you really think Ami was the only one who was able to hack into your game? I've been there a long time before she was. But I think we should leave now... before our new friends get upset." He smirked and gestured at Amelia and the others, as they were walking away.

But when they looked back at them, Minako was sure that she could at least see something like a warm, friendly smile in the eyes of Amelia and Gourry.

"Okay," she sighed. "Let's go home!"

* * *

Mrs. Aino was almost asleep when Minako came back home. She woke up when she heard her daughter closing the door. She overwhelmed Minako with a shower of questions, until Minako yawned and told her mother that she was way too tired to explain anything, and that she just wanted to go to bed.

As she dropped down on her soft pillow, she saw the smirking face of Artemis looking up at her.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well what?" Minako murmured back at him.

The white feline tilted his head. "Did you save Ami, what else?"

"Of course we did!" Minako replied. "I think she's just going home with her Dad..."

"And what about Azeroth...?" Artemis asked.

"It's a long story," Minako sighed. "But let's just say that I don't think we have seen the last of them..."

* * *

The End


End file.
